Epicore Biosystems Launches Connected Hydration to Protect Industrial Athletes from Extreme Heat

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Apr 18, 2024, 11:15 ET

The first real-time sweat, motion and skin temperature-monitoring wearable is now commercially available as climate change intensifies and working conditions become more dangerous

CAMBRIDGE, Mass., April 18, 2024 /PRNewswire/ -- Epicore Biosystems ('Epicore'), a digital health company developing advanced sweat-sensing wearables to provide real-time personalized hydration insights for performance and safety, today announced the commercial launch of Connected Hydration. Connected Hydration is the first sweat-sensing wearable patch and mobile app that equips workers with customized, real-time insights about sweat volume loss, electrolyte loss, body temperature and body movement to inform their hydration needs ahead of adverse dehydration events. The advanced biowearable is designed to protect industrial athletes working on the frontlines of physically intensive industries including energy, construction, mining, utilities, agriculture, trucking and warehouse packaging, as well as military personnel, from dehydration, heat stress and heat-related injuries.

The commercial launch of Connected Hydration comes at a critical time as climate change continues to intensify and scientists predict 2024 will be the hottest year on record. Cumulative exposure to extreme heat is proven to cause cognitive decline and physiological dysfunction and impede physical performance required for industrial occupations. Without meaningful action to adapt to extreme heat, rising temperatures will continue negatively impacting working conditions in the United States, leading to an average of 450,000 heat-related injuries per year and $500 billion in labor-related productivity costs by 2050. On a global scale, health experts anticipate a 370% increase in yearly heat-related deaths and a 50% increase in hours of labor lost due to heat exposure, if the world warms by 2 degrees Celsius.

"The trajectory of extreme heat requires connected worker solutions that go far beyond a one-size-fits-all approach. As the world continues to warm at an alarming rate, there is an urgent need for technology that provides industrial workers access to their own hydration data and alerts them at the exact moment they're at risk of dehydration," said Dr. Roozbeh Ghaffari, CEO and co-founder of Epicore Biosystems. "Epicore is proud to fulfill that need with the commercial launch of Connected Hydration, which is already in use by thousands of workers worldwide to prevent dehydration and heat-related illness. As we continue establishing ourselves as a global leader in the hydration sector, worker safety remains one of our top priorities."

Connected Hydration has already been deployed across multiple industrial sectors, including oil and gas, military, engineering services, shipping, climate technology, chemical plants, construction and manufacturing, and with over 20 multinational corporations, across four continents. This scale of deployment ahead of its commercial launch highlights the growing demand for personalized hydration solutions to empower and protect workers.

Connected Hydration consists of a flexible wearable patch, a mobile application and a cloud engine. The mobile app is available in North America on the Apple App Store and will be available in the Google Play Android store in May, with early partner availability in Australia, Singapore and Japan. Unlike most wearables on the market, Connected Hydration has an extended battery life of over 1,000 hours and never requires charging. Epicore offers a complimentary coin-cell battery swap service, creating an eco-friendly and seamless user experience.

Connected Hydration's advanced features include:

Multiple biosensors for real-time sweat and electrolyte loss, skin temperature, thermal flux and motion tracking
Machine learning algorithms incorporated across a variety of hydration conditions and trained on 420,000 data points from the field
Real-time dehydration alerts and alarms via haptic feedback
Fluid/electrolyte intake tracking via the Connected Hydration mobile app
Data dashboard for tracking daily and longitudinal changes across all biometrics
Secure cloud engine with predictive analytics across work sites and regions
Intrinsically safe design that can withstand hazardous environments (CLASS I, DIV 2 certified)

Epicore recently completed its System and Organization Controls (SOC) 2 Type II compliance in accordance with the American Institute of Certified Public Accounts (AICPA), underscoring the company's commitment to cloud data security and privacy for enterprise customers leveraging Connected Hydration. Multiple peer-reviewed scientific publications underpin the commercial launch of Connected Hydration, including a recent publication in Artificial Intelligence, Social Computing and Wearable Technologies by a University of California, Berkeley student researcher and Chevron case study support team leaders.

To learn more about Epicore Biosystems and Connected Hydration, visit https://www.epicorebiosystems.com/.

About Epicore Biosystems

Founded in 2017, Epicore Biosystems is a digital health company developing advanced sweat-sensing biowearables that provide real-time personalized health insights for hydration, stress and wellness. Their clinically validated biowearable products and cloud analytics are deployed globally and licensed by leading Fortune 500 companies, the Department of Defense and the National Institute of Health. To learn more, visit https://www.epicorebiosystems.com/.

SOURCE Epicore Biosystems, Inc.