Alabama’s Hardware Park partnering on device to combat opioid crisis
OD Revive CEO Kyle Berman gives a presentation to a cohort of high school and college students who are helping develop a wearable technology for detecting opioid overdoses. (contributed)
The latest NextGen student cohort at Hardware Park is taking on an ambitious initiative aimed at tackling the opioid crisis.
Hardware Park is Birmingham, Alabama’s, hub for developing physical medical products and engineering education. Its spring 2024 NextGen cohort, comprising talented students from Birmingham high schools and the University of Alabama at Birmingham (UAB), is focused on developing Birmingham startup OD Revive‘s wearable technology for detecting opioid overdoses.
With more than 106,000 U.S. overdose deaths in 2021, and local figures mirroring this alarming trend, OD Revive’s mission is more critical than ever.
Dr. Darlene Traffanstedt, Jefferson County Department of Health medical director, said that between 2019 and 2022, overdose deaths in Alabama’s most populous county almost doubled, while fentanyl-related overdose deaths increased by 275%.
OD Revive, under the leadership of CEO Kyle Berman, is at the forefront of creating a device that enables timely overdose intervention.
Berman brings a personal connection to the cause as a recovering heroin addict who has been clean for five years.
“You can think of OD Revive as ‘Life Alert’ for people who can’t push a button,” Berman said. “The device will read specific vital signs and, when those vitals go below the threshold that would be indicative of an overdose, it will alert their emergency contacts and reveal their location for a response to administer Narcan.
“We’re fortunate to partner with Hardware Park and Bessel as we develop our device,” he said.
The cohort is made up of four high school students, from Ramsay, Carver and Woodlawn high schools in Birmingham, and eight UAB college students. The cohort will take part in a team-based, rapid innovation program delivered by Bessel: the Bessel Origin system. The students will be mentored by medtech industry experts as they work on OD Revive.
Chris Danek, Bessel founder and CEO, co-founded and was the former CEO of AtheroMed, now part of healthcare and technology giant Philips. Before that he was vice president of research and development at Asthmatx, now a wholly owned subsidiary of Boston Scientific.
“Creativity, initiative and teamwork are hallmarks of Hardware Park’s 2024 Spring NexGen cohort,” Danek said. “The students excel at applying the mindsets and methods for rapid innovation from the Bessel Origin program. I’m eager to see the solution concepts they propose for the OD Revive project.”
Last year, Hardware Park was designated as an Innovative Entity by Innovate Alabama and awarded a grant to start the MedTech Design Internship programs for high school and college students.
The goal of Hardware Park’s NextGen cohorts: to fuel the growth of the design, engineering and manufacturing of physical products within Alabama.
“Where else can bright students work with industry and teaching experts, learn best practices through Bessel Origin’s phenomenal framework and be part of developing a product with a local founder like Kyle Berman, who is on a mission to save lives?” said Mark Conner, executive director of Hardware Park. “We are grateful for Innovate Alabama’s support to launch Hardware Park’s NextGen programs that will change lives.”
Learn more about Hardware Park at hardwarepark.org.
