Epicore Biosystems acquires Eccrine Systems assets, adds seasoned executive Laura Lang to its Board of Directors

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., May 4, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- Upon completing its recent $10 million series A funding round, digital health and wearable solutions company Epicore Biosystems announced today that it has acquired the assets and intellectual property of Eccrine Systems, a Cincinnati-based wearable sensor company with advanced aptamer-based sweat sensing technology utilized for precision medicine and adherence monitoring. Epicore also added Laura Lang, marketing executive, investor, and previous CEO of Time, Inc. and Digitas to its board of directors.

This acquisition bolsters Epicore's portfolio of wearable microfluidic solutions with additional sensor technology from Eccrine Systems and the University of Cincinnati. The aptamer-based sensors developed by Eccrine Systems have been demonstrated in stress, pain and other healthcare management applications.

With Epicore's proprietary sweat sensing products in the market and this new acquisition, Epicore is positioned at the forefront in the non-invasive hydration and metabolic health market with over 100 patents issued or pending.  

"The acquisition of Eccrine Systems' assets brings a complementary set of biosensing capabilities to Epicore," says Epicore CEO & co-Founder Dr. Roozbeh Ghaffari. "Epicore is leading the wearable sweat sensing space with products in the marketplace and an ever expanding set of foundational technologies and sensing capabilities."

Epicore spun out from Northwestern University's Querrey Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics based on decades of research and development by Prof. John Rogers and Dr. Ghaffari. Epicore has developed a proprietary wearable "skin-like" microfluidic patch that can offer real-time analysis of eccrine sweat, as well as other physiological biomarkers, including body temperature, motion, and posture.   

Global digital marketing, consumer products expert Laura Lang joins Board   
Epicore also announced today that it has added Laura Lang to its Board of Directors. Lang, a University of Pennsylvania Wharton alumni, is the former CEO of Digitas and Time, Inc., and senior advisor at L. Catterton. As a pioneer in digital marketing and consumer products, she brings extensive expertise in industry disruption and monetization of data assets and strategic marketing.

Lang is credited with growing Digitas to become the largest global digital marketing network. Later, serving as CEO of Time Inc., a division of Time Warner, she led the company's digital transformation before going public. Lang has also scaled both B2B and B2C companies and has worked closely with high growth brands through her present board roles at VF Corporation (VFC, NYSE Ticker) and Vroom (VRM, NASDAQ Ticker) and previous roles at Nutrisystem (NTRI, NASDAQ Ticker) and Care.com (acquired by IAC).   

"Epicore's suite of wearable products and sensing technology stands to transform how we track and treat a whole host of health conditions, from hydration to nutrition, even stress," said Lang. "The potential of this technology is extraordinary, and I am thrilled to be joining Epicore's board and working with its management team to bring it to scale."

Through corporate partnerships and recent product deployments with leading clinical organizations, food and beverage companies, and bio-pharmaceutical companies, Epicore is positioning to expand its enterprise-focused market footing with the addition of Lang to the board of directors.

"Epicore will benefit immensely from Laura's proven expertise in advancing and commercializing disruptive digital and consumer product innovations on a global scale," said Dr. Ghaffari. "She is uniquely positioned to help accelerate our efforts to drive a new category of personalized wearables and health analytics."

Fortune 50 leaders Chevron Corp. and PepsiCo are among Epicore's early backers and customers, as well as the U.S. Air Force, U.S. Army, National Institutes of Health, and NextFlex.

"The addition of Laura to the board and the acquisition of unique IP will accelerate Epicore's transformation into a leading personalized health tech and wellness company equipped with a vast portfolio of biomarker solutions," said Erik Hammer, partner at Alumni Ventures.

In March 2021, Epicore launched its first commercial sports hydration product with PepsiCo and Gatorade, the Gx Sweat Patch, a first-to-market wearable that pairs with the Gx app to provide personalized, real-time hydration recommendations for athletes to help drive performance.

Following the Gx Sweat Patch launch, Epicore conducted a summer trial with Chevron Technology Ventures to deploy wireless sweat patches to continuously monitor hydration of workers facing increased risk of heat stress. Chevron was one of the lead investors in Epicore's Series A, which was announced in February 2022.

Epicore is also actively deploying its first medical product in remote clinical research trials to analyze sweat biomarkers for pharmaceutical, military, sports & fitness, and food & beverage applications. The Discovery Patch System is registered with the FDA as a Class I device.

About Epicore Biosystems
Epicore Biosystems is a privately held digital health solutions company spun out of the John A. Rogers Laboratory based in the Querrey-Simpson Institute for Bioelectronics at Northwestern University. It has established partnerships with Fortune 100 companies, the Department of Defense, and leading research hospitals to drive personalized care with its proprietary wearable microfluidic products. For more information, please visit https://www.epicorebiosystems.com/. 

About Alumni Ventures
Alumni Ventures is a network-powered venture capital firm. Our network is our source of capital ($900M+ capital raised) and differentiation. Our community enables us to access exciting new ventures and add value to our portfolio companies. Our Just Cause is to grow, engage and learn with an inclusive community of stakeholders to create difference-making ventures. For more information, please visit https://www.av.vc/.

SOURCE Epicore Biosystems, Inc.