Alex Lepe
In the beginning: Joe Griffin and Elyse Dickerson spent nine months in a lab at the UNT Health Science Center developing Ear Wax MD.
And the winner is … .
Eosera. Well, and the consumer, of course.
Elyse Dickerson and Joe Griffin’s winding marathon journey in earwax and entrepreneurship brought them to Arlington’s Globe Life Field last week. The concourse was converted for a moment in time into an exhibits hall and a stage for an awards ceremony where they were called up to accept TechFW’s Impact Award.
“It’s overwhelming, really,” said Griffin afterward. “To start with just Elyse and I and TechFW and be surrounded with a great bunch of mentors, and then build a team with people who care. Good leadership, good mentorship, and a community that supports small business and entrepreneurs it’s overwhelming really.”
TechFW’s Impact Awards ceremony was symbolic of that community that supports entrepreneurism.
The Rising Star Awards were passed out to Revitalize Energy Solutions, Chute Help, and AyuVis Research. Booths lined the concourse with dreams to be the next Eosera as entrepreneurs set up to pitch their innovations.
Eosera was born out of a layoff by Alcon. Dickerson and Griffin, who has a doctorate as a toxicologist, were caught up in the cuts.
Dickerson and Griffin decided to team up and deploy their base of knowledge and dig out their own path in biotechnology. They talked to every doctor who would sit down for dinner or lunch. What they found out was that earwax impaction was a problem for both older patients as well as the very youngest. And over-the-counter products on the market were not effective.
The two partnered with TechFW and began testing solutions in a University of North Texas Health Science Center lab for nine months. The end result was EarwaxMD, a product that uses a dual-action technology to dissolve earwax and clean the ear canal of any wax, oils, and debris in as little as 15 minutes.
In all, Eosera has 10 products in ear care now in 13,000 stores, including Kroger as well as online stores Rite Aid and Amazon.
Of those early days, Dickerson said once: “We had no idea how we were going to get it done, but we were going to get it done.”
They employee 38 today, Dickerson said. That’s up from 20 just this fall.
“Every year we’ve moved because we need more space,” Dickerson said on Thursday. “More manufacturing space, more warehouse space, and more office space. We’re about to move again.”
That move will take place around the middle of this year, she said, though they’ll remain at the same locale, for now, on the South Freeway.