Five steps, in order.
Traditional gum development starts with flavor and adjusts from there. SuzChews inverts that: it starts from the patient's biomarker profile, maps that to a target ingredient mix, and only then determines flavor and texture around those functional constraints. The five steps below are the actual sequence the project followed.
Personal contact with chemotherapy patients revealed a gap: no consumer product addressed taste distortion directly.
Eight biomarker variables identified across peer-reviewed literature. CiTAS scale selected as the quantification method.
Variables mapped to dysgeusia mechanisms, then mechanisms mapped to ingredient strategies - the §03 pathway diagram.
Four ingredient strategies formulated against the mechanism map and the §02 flavor curve.
Weighting algorithm built from variable profiles. Physical prototype submitted to Jel Sert and ACCO for review.
- Concept formed
- Initial literature search
- Collaborator outreach begins
- 8 biomarker variables identified
- CiTAS scale selected
- Ingredient strategy drafted
- Jel Sert contact made
- Mechanism-to-ingredient mapping
- Weighting algorithm built
- Formulation v1, v2, v3
- ACCO outreach
- Working prototype
- Simulation scenarios authored
- Submitted to Jel Sert + ACCO
- FDA pathway scoped
Stakeholder map.
Six groups sit inside the SuzChews ecosystem. Each has a distinct reason to care about the product and a specific role in moving it from prototype to distribution.
Restoring a sense of normalcy during treatment. Any product that makes eating feel less like a chore has outsized value during chemotherapy.
Patient simulation scenarios (§06) are authored from real clinical profiles to ensure the formulation maps to how dysgeusia actually presents, not just in aggregate.
Finding something the patient will eat. Appetite loss is one of the most visible and distressing symptoms from a caregiver's perspective.
Product accessibility is built into the design constraint. A gum is something a caregiver can hand to a patient without any clinical setup or instruction.
Evidence-backed interventions that complement treatment rather than conflicting with it.
All ingredient choices are food-grade and cross-referenced against known drug interactions. The CiTAS scale is used as the quantification method rather than anecdotal taste reports.
Manufacturability. Functional ingredients need to survive the gum base process, maintain stability, and stay within food-grade parameters at scale.
The prototype was submitted to Jel Sert contacts through a prior R&D internship relationship. The formulation was designed from the start with gum-base compatibility in mind.
The American Childhood Cancer Organization improves quality of life for pediatric cancer patients. Taste distortion is particularly damaging for children during treatment.
ACCO is positioned as both a distribution channel and a validation partner whose endorsement would provide clinical credibility and access to the patient population most likely to benefit.
Whether the product makes an implied health claim. A gum marketed to cancer patients sits in ambiguous territory between functional food and medical device.
All ingredients are GRAS-status food-grade. Claims are positioned around taste support and palatability rather than treatment benefit, keeping the product in the functional food category.
Every stage was completed independently as part of ACAD 432 at USC. Jel Sert and ACCO are named as the realistic next step from prototype. These represent the intended partners if the project moves into production.