A recent press release highlighted a partnership between Epicore Biosystems, an impressive wearable microfluidic solutions company, stick-to-skin material powerhouse, 3M, and Innovize, the industry leader in medical device manufacturing.
Check out more details about the relationships between the companies that are changing the game in the medical device industry:
DAVE JESSEN
Owner and Vice President of Sales and Marketing at Innovize
Q: Have 3M and Innovize worked together before?
A: 3M and Innovize have a long relationship going back more than 25 years. Innovize is one of 3M’s “Preferred Converters” and gets brought into projects like this, since we are one of the top converters in the country. Additionally, 3M is one of Innovize’s “Growth Partners” and we collaborate using 3M’s premier materials for wearable sensors.
Q: How does this fit with Innovize’s business?
A: Innovize is a contract manufacturer focusing solely on medical and personal care products. We would call this particular sweat sensor unique in that there are microfluidic channels created to collect and analyze sweat for both volume and content. Our expertise for stick-to-skin wearable sensors, as well as our ability to deposit chemistry and make close tolerance multi-layer laminations, were put to the test on this project. Complex projects like this, along with great collaboration with 3M and Epicore Biosystems, are at the heart of our business! It is the great ideas and designs of our customers (like Epicore) that allow us to make innovative products like this. The greater the challenge, the more we learn!
Q: Does the company produce other wearables?
A: Innovize has a wide variety of wearable sensor components in the diagnostic, diabetes care, cardiac management, neural, wound care, and other emerging markets for wearable sensors. About ¼ of our new medical device projects in development are in the wearable sensor category and span all of the medical device markets we serve.
CHAD REED
Director at 3M Medical Device Solutions
Q: Have 3M and Innovize worked together before?
A: Yes, Innovize is a 3M Preferred Converter manufacturing partner. 3M Health Care works with Innovize on several device manufacturing projects leveraging 3M’s material science expertise and Innovize’s manufacturing capability.
Q: What medical-grade products is 3M providing to Epicore?
A: For Epicore and other medical device original equipment manufacturers (OEMs), we provide medical material science expertise and innovative solutions that are fit for purpose, primarily stick-to-skin adhesives and microfluidic films and adhesives that get used in medical wearables and diagnostic devices.
Q: What are “skin interfacing materials”?
A: …examples of [these] types of products can be found using 3M’s FindMyAdhesive.com tool. Here you will see many types of skin adhesives that stick for various durations and for various skin types (e.g. infant to elderly). In working with customers like Epicore, our application experts consult to enable the best outcome based on product requirements.
Q: How do these products/components help/supplement/improve Epicore’s product?
A: 3M’s stick-to-skin adhesives that get used in medical wearables are designed to help ensure the device adheres safely and securely to skin in a variety of conditions, while enabling the accurate collection of data from our customer’s sensors, like Epicore in this instance.
Q: Is this partnership reflective of other opportunities that 3M may pursue as it works towards spinning off its health care business?
A: Our collaboration with Epicore reflects 3M Health Care’s focus on supporting medical device manufacturers with innovative technology that helps enable better, smarter, and safer health care solutions. We’re excited about the opportunities ahead and remain focused on providing customers with the innovative solutions they need.
