Under the direction of President and CEO Rodney Schutt, Orion Innovations is on a mission to transform critical aspects of patient and clinician safety through innovative, straightforward solutions. By addressing long-overlooked gaps in healthcare, Orion’s products aim to improve the standard of care across critical, dental, and respiratory care settings.
Orion Innovations was founded by Dr. Wayne Provost, an accomplished surgeon and prolific innovator with over 200 patents. Dr. Provost’s vision for Orion stemmed from personal experience. While watching his son, Dusty, undergo treatment for leukemia, he witnessed firsthand the inefficiencies and potential dangers of managing multiple infusion lines for critically ill patients. Schutt explained, “The average ICU patient has eight infusion lines, and an infusion nurse needs to check on the patient 17 plus times every 24 hours. It’s a very laborious process of line tracing, and only one of those lines is considered a safe line.” Dr. Provost recognized how critical it was to find a better solution—and that’s how MedLite IDⓇ was born.
In the very early stages of the company, Schutt joined as CEO through a strong industry connection. “A business partner who was part of Orion’s founding group and initial angel funding round invited me to spearhead the efforts of launching Orion Innovations,” Schutt shared.
Orion Innovations is tackling critical gaps in healthcare standards of care, beginning with critical and dental care—both of which have relied on inadequate solutions for decades.
In critical care settings, where patients have at least eight infusion lines, the standard of care for differentiating between lines is risky and outdated. Schutt explained, “Today, hospitals rely on tape and labels to distinguish between infusion lines.” Lines become tangled and difficult to trace, leading to “infusion confusion.” Schutt continued, “As the clinician is tracing with their fingers to find the safe line, they often get the wrong line and inject a lethal drug into another line carrying a different lethal drug. If they’re lucky, they create an adverse drug event; if they’re unlucky, it leads to a wrongful death.” The company’s MedLite ID solution has been developed to address this problem.
In dental care, gag reflex management is a long-standing challenge with no consistent standard of care. Hygienists often rely on makeshift solutions, such as asking patients to lift their left leg or pouring salt in the patients’ mouths. There are more advanced solutions, like numbing sprays, but these solutions present their own challenges. Schutt elaborated, “It’s sprayed in the back of the throat to provide a very temporary solution to blocking the gag reflex. However, it also leaves a lasting numbness in the throat and interacts with patients’ swallowing. Because that product also has a pharmaceutical FDA classification, it’s not easily scalable or used globally.” The company’s NoGag™ product solves this challenge for patients and dental practices around the globe.
Orion Innovation focuses on simple, patentable, and low-regulatory products. MedLite ID addresses a significant problem in the ICU: infusion confusion, where tangled infusion lines make it challenging for nurses to locate the safe line for administering drugs. MedLite ID identifies and illuminates the safe line, enabling nurses to immediately recognize it—even among a tangle of other lines.
Orion’s second product, NoGag™, targets a common issue in dentistry—a severe gag reflex that affects roughly 10% of the population. NoGag is a powdered substance that temporarily blocks the gag reflex for at least an hour. Schutt explained, “Before any dental procedure, about half a gram of our proprietary precision blended powder is placed on top of the tongue, and the patient waits ten seconds before swallowing. We have a biochemical trick of the brain through nerve nine that tells the brain you’re swallowing food, blocking the gag reflex.”
Orion Innovations has achieved significant progress with both MedLite ID and NoGag. The successful completion of a clinical study was a critical milestone for the company’s MedLite ID. Conducted at the Wake Forest University School of Medicine, the study found that the light-linking technology reduced overall time to injection compared to standard labeling practices and demonstrated a significant decrease in time to injection in low-light settings, greater perceived usability, and lower perceived task load. Schutt shared, “The results of the study were beyond spectacular. It’s a message to the global acute care healthcare systems that this 50 to 60-year-old problem of infusion confusion now has a low-cost, simple, and proven solution.”
NoGag, initially launched in the dental market, has expanded rapidly, with the ultimate goal of being direct-to-patient. “The future of NoGag goes beyond dental—we envision it as an OTC solution to help everyone from young children learning to eat solid foods to older adults who struggle to swallow large pills,” he shared.
Looking ahead, Orion is developing OxySwitch™, a disposable oxygen valve designed to allow caregivers to switch seamlessly between oxygen delivery devices and prevent oxygen deprivation. Additionally, the company is developing new versions of MedLite ID with AI-driven data interoperability, enabling integration with infusion pumps and electronic medical records to improve tracking and reporting.
More than five million patients are admitted to the ICU each year in the United States. Intravenous (IV) infusion is an integral part of the care for critically ill patients. However, with millions of patients receiving IV infusions, they are a common source of medical errors, with estimates of adverse events and serious medical errors ranging from 50% to 80% being attributable to IV infusion.
According to LSI’s Market Analysis and Projections (MAP) database, the global market for IV pumps and sets is the largest subcategory of the global drug delivery market. By the end of 2024, LSI estimates that the market will have reached $14.8 billion in attributable product sales. In addition to being the largest market within the drug delivery devices market, it is also projected to be the fastest-growing market. From 2023 to 2028, LSI projects that the market will increase at a CAGR of 8.1%.
Schutt has been selected to present at LSI USA ‘25 next March 17-21 in front of hundreds of global medical technology companies. Join us in welcoming Schutt to the event in Dana Point, CA, where he will share the latest updates on Orion Innovations’ technology and development.
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