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New platform connects biotech innovators with market opportunity

How Exit Lab at the 1819 Innovation Hub empowers health tech innovation

headshot of Diana M Lara By Diana M Lara
8 minute read January 3, 2025

Wearable biosensors are a fast-growing area within health care and technology, transforming how we monitor and manage health. Furthermore, artificial intelligence and connected technologies are expanding the industry’s potential opportunities.

Bridging the gap between technology and personal wellness, innovative biomedical devices integrate into clothing or can be worn as accessories, continuously tracking key metrics such as heart rate, body temperature and blood glucose levels.

As this technology advances, wearable biosensors are poised to revolutionize health care, from early diagnosis to wellness care.

Exit Lab biotechnology

A man stands in front of a classroom of people.

North AI presents to Exit Lab attendees. Photo/Diana Lara

Enter Exit Lab — a platform created by entrepreneur and business operator Kevin Mackey. The system is designed to empower innovators to develop, showcase and strategically market or exit their technologies.

“As wearable sensors continue to expand their role in remote patient monitoring, diagnosis, therapeutics and disease detection, they generate significant interest,” Mackey said. “I wanted to offer a trustworthy space to facilitate connections between innovators, investors and industry leaders, and Exit Lab was the answer to help foster collaborations and provide robust support for every stage of innovation.”

Mackey gathered experts from the medical wearable technology field for an event featuring a series of presentations highlighting the latest advancements in wearable body sensors.

The following technology and devices were presented during the event, offering opportunities to improve patient support, clinical outcomes and decision-making in health care.

Noxsano

A Noxsano representative discusses treatments of chronic wounds.

A Noxsano representative discusses treatments of chronic wounds. Photo/Diana Lara

Noxsano is a medical device company focused on developing treatments for chronic wounds, particularly diabetic wounds, using nitric oxide technology. Chronic wounds pose significant health care challenges and costs, with 1.6 million cases annually in the United States, some of them leading to amputations or death.

Nitric oxide is a small molecule the body naturally uses to drive physiological processes such as wound healing. Noxsano’s proprietary technology electrochemically generates nitric oxide at the point of use, offering a continuous delivery system. Testing has shown promising results in faster wound healing. The team is working to enter the wound care market by adding partners and raising capital for larger clinical trials.

North AI

North AI delivers technology intelligence services to the U.S. Department of Defense. It’s committed to producing top-tier analyses, utilizing cutting-edge tools and combining technical and market intelligence to understand IP-oriented fields such as that of wearable biosensors.

Analyzing patent timelines makes it possible to gauge market acceleration and commercial activity. The process identifies major players in specific sectors, including academic and commercial entities, to help inform decisions such as licensing or acquisition. This includes ranking subject matter experts based on factors like citations and providing valuable insights for potential collaborations or market opportunities.

Kilele Health

A television screen shows a Kilele presentation slide with the business' logo.

A television screen shows a Kilele presentation slide. Photo/Diana Lara

Kilele Health developed a wearable device that can measure various biomarkers for patients, mainly focusing on heart failure. The company has recently made advancements in creating new types of sensors that can remain functional in the body for longer than had previously been possible.

Kilele aims to shift from time-based to status-based patient monitoring, allowing for more flexible and efficient management of heart failure. Current methods rely on patients frequently visiting doctors, but the new platform seeks to monitor patients at home, enhancing compliance and outcomes. The goal is to address hospital readmissions, as studies show that 25% of patients are readmitted within three days, leading to an estimated $16 billion lost annually in the U.S.

Band Connect

Each year, 27 million patients undergo physical therapy — but 90% of them don’t engage in physical therapy exercises at home after treatment. Band Connect offers a hardware-enabled software solution called "hyperphysical therapy," which enhances in-clinic experiences with technology for at-home use. The solution integrates well with physical therapists' roles, supporting their expertise rather than replacing it and focusing on resistance-based training.

Band Connect’s technology avoids reliance on cameras or automated sensors to maintain the therapeutic alliance between patients and therapists.

A patient app provides:

  • Exercises and real-time feedback
  • Enhanced engagement through gamification so clinicians can track patient progress and customize treatment plans
  • Integrated patient-reported outcomes

Band Connect is raising a seed round of funding and actively seeking additional investors, aiming for $1.1 million to continue development.

We're building Exit Lab’s platform so inventors and founders can showcase their technology to customers, investors and health care providers.

Kevin Mackey Founder and CEO, Exit Lab

Ben Guard Pediatrics

A woman talks to a classroom of people.

Founder shares personal experience that led to Ben Guard Pediatrics. Photo/Diana Lara

The motivation behind Ben Guard Pediatrics’ wearable device stems from the founder's son fighting brain cancer for six years and eventually dying from a preventable infection during treatment.

The product is a wearable device designed to reduce infection rates by holding and organizing medical lines made from antimicrobial materials, saving both lives and health care costs. It’s been well received by pediatric hospitals and is helping to lower readmission rates due to infections. Ben Guard Pediatrics’ product is simple, with each child receiving four units upon hospital admission, and it has demonstrated positive results, particularly among nurses who see its impact in improving patient care.

Ben Guard has patents and is rapidly growing, with plans to expand into home care and durable medical equipment markets. While getting hospitals to adopt the product was initially challenging, Ben Guard has seen success among motivated health care professionals. The company is raising funds through debt-based short-term financing to match inventory and receivables as it scales.

Auxilium Health

Auxilium Health is dedicated to innovating wound care solutions, leveraging technology to improve patient outcomes and reduce health care costs. The company is developing low-cost and smart biomaterials for hard-to-heal wounds through a new type of wound dressing for post-surgery infection prevention.

The dressing material aims to mitigate the risk of infections, particularly staph infections. It’s designed to manage fluid effectively, absorbing 50 times its weight.

Auxilium Health’s mission is to empower patients by providing technology that actively heals and monitors wound infections, enabling faster recovery times and a better quality of life.

Thus far, Auxilium Health has secured over $1.1 million in funding and has committed about 70% of its first funding round. It continues to build a network of advisers and strategic partners in the health care sector to support development.

Power of the Exit Lab

With the advent of mobile and cloud technologies, wearable biosensors enable real-time data analysis and remote monitoring.

“We're building Exit Lab’s platform so inventors and founders can showcase their technology to customers, investors and health care providers, allowing each to hear what the other likes and wonders about the product,” Mackey said. “This network effect is invaluable to quicker product development and market adoption.”

Exit Lab’s next event is the Food as Medicine mini-conference, in conjunction with the Urban Farming Initiative and UC’s 1819 Innovation Hub on Jan. 22, 2025.

Featured image at top: Kevin Mackey welcomes attendees to Exit Lab. Photo/Diana Lara

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