Brooklyn Lightening Dye Wins Lafayette Medical Contest

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The Brooklyn startup makes Lafayette $ 40,000 richer after winning two awards in Innovate South's Get Started Medical Pitch competition.

Kinnos, a company that developed a product that colors bleach, won both awards in the fourth virtual pitch competition. The company won the $ 10,000 People's Choice Award and the $ 30,000 Judges' Choice Award.

Kinnos was selected from seven finalists , all of whom gave two and a half minute presentations and a question-and-answer session with a jury. The company uses a product called Highlight to dye bleach and bleaching cloths blue so disinfectants can see if stains have escaped.

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"Right now, cleaning is done by the least paid workers who are in a hurry and need a quick turnaround," said Rachael Sparks, vice president of marketing at Kinnos. "To make matters worse, it is invisible. All disinfectants are invisible."

Kinnos sells an accessory that sits on top of a can of white towels. If a cloth is passed through the accessory, the bleach will be blue. Everything that has been cleaned with the cloth will turn blue and the color will fade after a few minutes.

The product is designed to fill in training gaps or language barriers that exist on many hospital cleaning teams, Sparks said. It's also cheaper and takes less time than other products on the market, such as UV lamps.

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The company sells four units including cartridges for $ 1,500. A refill of 20 cartridges costs $ 600. The company also has an option for liquid bleach.

The product is used in 11 Veterans Affairs hospitals and medical centers, Sparks said.

In the United States, one in 31 hospitalized patients will develop a hospital-associated infection. In developing countries it is one in three.

"We'd like to cut that in half," said Sparks.

What were the other entries?

Kinnos beat six other companies for cash, including Crossscope of Mountain View, Calif .; General Genomics from Midland, Texas; NEVAP of San Jose, California; Protean BioDiagnostics of Orlando, Florida; SafeBVM of Chesterfield, Missouri; and Prep Tech from Lafayette.

Prep Tech from Lafayette presented its ULTRAPREP product, a preoperative skin preparation system outside the operating room that enables more efficient use of procedure time. The process involves placing the limb in a safety wrap and collecting antiseptics.

Pete Prados, COO of Prep Tech, compared ULTRAPREP to a shake 'n bake food product: you stick the tip up your sleeve and let the antiseptic cover it.

Crosscope, short for Computational Microscope, uses artificial intelligence to help doctors make accurate cancer diagnoses and improve patient outcomes.

General Genomics created a platform called Curo46 that helps determine a person's health risks, appropriate preventive measures, personalized treatment programs, and more.

California-based NEVAP makes breathing tubes that kill pathogens, which can reduce mechanical ventilation time, reduce treatment costs, and reduce patient mortality.

Protean BioDiagnostics has developed a cancer diagnostic service called Oncology MAPS. The system uses the highest quality tests and can be tailored precisely to a cancer patient's needs during treatment.

SafeBVM adds an accessory called the SIP Safety Accessory to the bag's valve mask, which makes emergency airway management safer. The accessories ensure that the airflow generated when pumping the bag is optimal and safe.

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