What You Should Know:
- Epicore Biosystems, a digital health solutions company developing advanced sweat-sensing wearables to provide real-time personalized hydration insights for performance and safety, and the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) have partnered to bring Epicore’s novel biosensing capabilities to the anti-doping world as a new drug detection method to complement existing urine and blood collections.
- In the battle for safe and fair sport, there is no room for stagnation, making it imperative that innovators across industries unite to explore how the latest technologies and solutions can improve anti-doping detection and deterrence efforts to better serve clean athletes.
Revolutionizing Anti-Doping: Epicore and USADA’s Breakthrough Sweat Collection Collaboration
The collaboration sets out to achieve precisely this goal. Epicore’s sweat collection device not only increases the opportunities for collections but also streamlines the process for athletes, making it more convenient and less intrusive. Moreover, it presents the exciting prospect of furnishing athletes with real-time health data to enhance their performance.
Traditionally, athletes have had to provide blood and/or urine samples for anti-doping measures, which can be cumbersome and discomforting. Through the partnership between Epicore and USADA, there is a concerted effort to revolutionize this approach by introducing a non-invasive, wearable method for conventional screening, utilizing biomarkers and drug detection in sweat. This technology holds particular promise for in-competition testing, alleviating the strain of doping control during periods when athletes are under immense physical and time-related pressures.
The collaboration commenced in 2023 with a proof-of-concept study, demonstrating the feasibility of efficiently and reliably collecting sweat samples from various parts of the body during exercise, suitable for drug analysis. Epicore and USADA are now engaged in ongoing research endeavors to deepen their understanding of the effectiveness and applicability of sweat as a drug screening medium. This approach aims to reduce the burden on athletes while providing them with invaluable insights into hydration levels for enhanced performance, recovery, and resilience.
“We are redefining hydration recovery and performance management with a suite of sweat-sensing products that bring value to organizations and people across sports, consumer health and industrial sectors. Partnering with USADA adds an entirely new dimension to our offerings, enabling analysis of new biomarkers to support athletes everywhere,” said Matt Marrapode, vice president of strategy at Epicore Biosystems. “This collaboration signifies a shared vision to empower athletes with tools that optimize their performance, while upholding the principles of fair play, and a level playing field for all.”
