External medical devices (ostomy pouches, wound dressings, wearable electronics) rely on adhesives to remain on skin for hours or days, but conventional acrylic, hydrocolloid and silicone adhesives often cause Medical Adhesive Related Skin Injuries (MARSI), an underreported issue in about 25% of wound care cases that leads to pain, inflammation, higher infection risk and treatment interruptions, with major patient burden and healthcare costs. Bio2Skin (BH4U) was developed to break this cycle: a patented, glueless, bio based and cost effective adhesive that uses the skin’s natural properties to create a gentle water based bond, overcoming drawbacks of petrochemical systems while providing secure medical grade adhesion and atraumatic, skin friendly removal, supporting better outcomes and more sustainable material use. With market potential over 250 million EUR by 2030, it will be commercialised under licence to adhesive and device manufacturers, enabling integration into existing and next generation products and de risking adoption of bio based materials across the sector. Reducing MARSI also brings economic and environmental gains through fewer unplanned dressing and device changes, lower consumption of dressings and materials, and less staff time; given that each change takes about 15 minutes and generates roughly 150 g of waste, and over 18 million people replace skin attached devices three times weekly with MARSI prevalence 3.4% to 25%, Bio2Skin could avoid 14.2 to 105 tonnes of disposal waste, cutting material and waste management costs and the environmental footprint of care. At the same time, by preventing recurrent pain and skin damage, it improves comfort, well being and dignity, especially for ostomates (around 0.1% of the world population, about 8 million people) and for patients with chronic wounds (2.21 per 1,000) and chronic leg ulcers (1.51 per 1,000), encouraging active patient participation, strengthening patient provider relationships and adherence, and improving outcomes and satisfaction. These impacts are supported by a sustainability strategy using renewable biomaterials to reduce petroleum dependence and carbon footprint, with energy efficient, low waste, circular economy focused development and manufacturing across the product life cycle, so clinical, economic, societal and environmental benefits reinforce each other and support a more effective, responsible and resilient healthcare system.
