Zack Gray WG19 was nearing the end of his time at Wharton when he lost his girlfriend to an opioid overdose. She had tried to get help but didn’t know where to look. Ophelia, which Gray co-founded shortly after graduating, is now licensed to provide telemedicine and prescriptions to treat opioid addiction in more than a dozen states.
The startup’s efforts to make treatment more accessible can be especially critical at a time when, Gray says, other options for obtaining medications such as Suboxone to curtail opioid use are sparse across much of the U.S. The medication can prevent cravings and withdrawal symptoms from drugs such as heroin, morphine, and fentanyl and in turn help avert tragedies like the one from which the startup takes its name.
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