What Vail Scientific does

Vail Scientific Inc. is a privately held medical device company headquartered in Bloomington, Minnesota, developing the VSNO™ sepsis screening platform — a non-invasive, handheld breath analyzer that measures exhaled nitric oxide (nitric oxide) combined with patient vital signs to produce a screening score for sepsis. The device is designed to deliver results in under two minutes at point-of-care, compared to the standard 8-hour blood-draw diagnostic pathway, targeting hospital emergency departments, ambulances, urgent care facilities, and nursing homes. The proprietary VSNO Score algorithm has demonstrated 0.89 sensitivity (95% CI: 0.77–0.96) for sepsis and 0.82 sensitivity for bacterial infection in a 104-patient proof-of-concept study published in the peer-reviewed Wiley journal Emergency Medicine International (March 2025).

The company's commercial model is direct enterprise sales of hardware to healthcare institutions, contingent on obtaining FDA clearance, which is currently an active workstream. The company has no commercial revenue to date. In March 2025, Vail Scientific entered a manufacturing partnership with Minnetronix Medical, which redesigned the device to achieve a 75% size reduction and IV-pole-mountable form factor suitable for production scale. The company has raised approximately $2.68 million across a 2021 oversubscribed Series B led by Vail Investor Group and a February 2025 $2.0 million investment from Exit 156 Capital.

Vail Scientific was founded in 2019 by four industry veterans with a combined 80+ years of medtech and pharmaceutical experience, collectively named on over 50 patents and authors of more than 20 peer-reviewed publications. The leadership team includes Tom Burke (CEO and Chairman), Carter Anderson (CTO), Russ Morris (CSO), and Clay Anderson (CFO), all with prior leadership roles at companies such as Medtronic, Verde Technologies, Diametrics Medical, Travanti Pharma, and Upsher-Smith Laboratories. The company operates with 1–10 employees from its Bloomington headquarters and is a member of Medical Alley, leveraging the Minnesota medtech ecosystem.

Name

Vail Scientific

Legal name

Vail Scientific Inc.

Website

https://vailscientific.com

Company type

Private

Founded year

2019

Operating status

Operating

Headcount range

1–10 employees

Short description

Vail Scientific Inc. is a pre-commercial medical device company developing the VSNO™ handheld breath analyzer, which screens for sepsis in under two minutes using exhaled nitric oxide and vital signs, targeting hospitals, emergency departments, ambulances, urgent care, and nursing homes pending FDA clearance.

Ownership category

akta.pro rank

Product category

Diagnostic Medical Devices

NAICS

Electromedical and Electrotherapeutic Apparatus Manufacturing (334510)

SIC

Surgical & Medical Instruments & Apparatus (3841)

akta.pro primary industry

Blood Oxygen & Respiratory Monitoring (Pulse Oximetry, Capnography, Spirometry) (HLAHACAD)

akta.pro secondary industry

Respiratory Monitoring & Oximetry (Capnography, Pulse Oximeters, Respiratory Rate) (HLAHAGAI)

Keywords

• Sepsis screening devices
• Point-of-care diagnostics
• Breath analysis technology
• Medical diagnostic devices
• Exhaled nitric oxide measurement

Headquarters

HQ city

Eagan

HQ country

United States

HQ region

North America

Offices1 record

Markets served

GTM type

B2B

Offering type

Hardware or Manufacturing

Cost components

Technology or R&D, Personnel, Operations, Marketing or Sales

Revenue model

1. VSNO Device Sales: Medical device sales to healthcare providers (hospitals, emergency departments, ambulances, urgent care). Device provides rapid, non-invasive sepsis screening at point-of-care. Revenue will be generated through device sales as the company works toward FDA clearance and commercialization.

Go-to-market motion1 record

Distribution channels1 record

Marketing channels4 records

Core offering

Vail Scientific develops the VSNO™ sepsis screening device, a non-invasive, handheld breath test that measures exhaled nitric oxide (NO) combined with vital signs to rapidly screen for sepsis at point-of-care, producing results in under two minutes versus the traditional 8-hour blood-draw process. The proprietary VSNO technology is intended for use in emergency departments, ambulances, urgent care facilities, and nursing homes as a triage-stage sepsis screening aid. The company is currently pre-commercial and pursuing FDA clearance before broader market launch.

Product overview

Vail Scientific offers a single unified product—the VSNO™ sepsis screening technology—which consists of a handheld breath test device that measures exhaled nitric oxide (NO) levels combined with vital signs to create a VSNO score for rapid sepsis detection. The device is designed for use at patient triage in hospitals, emergency departments, ambulances, and urgent care settings, providing results in under two minutes compared to the traditional 8-hour blood draw process. The company is working toward FDA clearance for commercialization.

Differentiator

Problem solved

Functional benefit

Brands

• VSNO: VSNO is a proprietary sepsis screening technology that measures exhaled nitric oxide (NO) for rapid, non-invasive, point-of-care detection of sepsis. The handheld breath test provides results in minutes without requiring a blood draw.

Products and services

• VSNO™ Sepsis Detection Device A non-invasive handheld breath test device that measures exhaled nitric oxide (NO) levels combined with vital signs (body temperature, heart rate, respiratory rate) to produce a VSNO score for rapid sepsis screening at point-of-care, delivering results in under two minutes without requiring a blood draw. Targeted at hospital emergency departments, ambulances, urgent care facilities, and nursing homes.
• VSNO™ Technology Platform Proprietary VSNO™ technology platform combining exhaled nitric oxide measurement with patient vital signs to create a real-time, non-invasive, point-of-care screening score for patients suspected of having sepsis at the triage stage.

Quantifiable outcome

• Sepsis detection sensitivity: 89% (vs. standard triage tools with poor sensitivity)
• +5 more outcomes

Named customers4 records

Segments4 records

Ideal customer profiles2 records

Technology focussed No

API detail

Has API

No

API docs

API detail

Core technology

AI maturity

App detail

AI capability3 records

Feature3 records

Partnerships

Three partnerships are on record, tiered core and minor.

• Minnetronix MedicalcoreTechnology or Integration · 13 March 2025Minnetronix Medical redesigned Vail Scientific's VSNO device, achieving 75% size reduction. They provided design-for-manufacturing expertise, integrated electronics, hardware, and software development, and manufactured devices for 2025 verification study. Will support product launch and commercialization planning.
• HealthPartnerscoreStrategic or Co-development Partner · 22 September 2020HealthPartners is the clinical partner for Vail's proof-of-concept NO-SEPSIS clinical study conducted at their facilities in the Minneapolis-St. Paul area. Principal Investigators Michael Zwank, MD and Kendal Farrar, MD lead the study.
• Medical AlleyminorOthersVail Scientific is a member of Medical Alley, the world's foremost network of healthcare organizations, providing access to industry connections and resources in the Minnesota medtech ecosystem.

Scale indicators9 records

Recent moves5 records

Expansion highlights6 records

Direct peers

• Cytovale: Cytovale developed IntelliSep, an FDA-cleared rapid cellular biomarker diagnostic for sepsis that delivers results in under 10 minutes from a blood sample at the point of care. Like Vail Scientific, it targets emergency department triage for early sepsis detection, making it the most directly comparable commercialization-stage competitor.
• Inflammatix: Inflammatix is developing HostDx Sepsis, a rapid host-response-based molecular diagnostic intended to distinguish bacterial vs. viral infection and identify sepsis at the point of care. It is one of the closest direct competitors pursuing fast, biomarker-driven sepsis screening in similar care settings.
• Prenosis: Prenosis developed the Sepsis ImmunoScore, an AI-enabled blood-based diagnostic for early sepsis detection. It uses machine learning on host immune biomarkers — directly comparable to Vail's approach of combining novel biomarker input (exhaled NO) with vital signs into a screening score.
• T2 Biosystems: T2 Biosystems markets T2Bacteria and T2Candida panels for direct-from-blood detection of sepsis-causing pathogens. It is a direct peer in the rapid sepsis diagnostics category, though it relies on molecular detection from blood rather than breath-based biomarkers.

Broad incumbents

• bioMérieux: bioMérieux is a global leader in clinical microbiology, with BACT/ALERT blood culture systems and BioFire diagnostic panels widely used for sepsis workup in hospitals. While not a direct competitor in rapid triage-stage screening, it owns the incumbent diagnostic pathway VSNO seeks to displace or augment.
• Becton Dickinson (BD): BD is a broad incumbent in clinical diagnostics and medical devices, offering blood culture, microbiology, and point-of-care diagnostics. Its scale, hospital sales force, and installed-base relationships set the competitive backdrop VSNO must navigate when introducing a novel sepsis screening tool.
• Roche Diagnostics: Roche Diagnostics operates a broad portfolio spanning clinical chemistry, immunoassays, and molecular diagnostics used in sepsis evaluation (e.g., procalcitonin and lactate assays). As one of the largest diagnostics incumbents, it represents both a competitive threat and a potential commercialization partner for breath-based sepsis screening.
• Abbott (i-STAT): Abbott's i-STAT point-of-care blood analyzer system is widely deployed in emergency departments and ambulatory settings, providing rapid lactate and other sepsis-relevant markers. It is a broad incumbent in point-of-care ED diagnostics with the hospital relationships VSNO must engage to drive adoption.

Emerging players

• Owlstone Medical: Owlstone Medical is developing breath biopsy diagnostics for multiple disease areas including infectious disease. As a breath-based diagnostics platform company, it shares Vail's core scientific premise of using exhaled breath biomarkers for disease detection, though with a broader indication focus.
• Noze (formerly BreathDX): Noze is an emerging breath diagnostics company using AI and exhaled VOC analysis for disease detection including infectious disease applications. It overlaps with VSNO on the breath-based diagnostics platform approach, though with a different biomarker modality than nitric oxide.

Market position

Strengths5 records

Weaknesses5 records

Competitive moat4 records

Key risks6 records

Key highlights7 records

Customer concentration

• LinkedInlinkedin.com/company/vail-scientific-llc

Revenue estimate

Valuation estimate

Number of profiles

Profiles6 records

Funding overview

Funding rounds2 records

Investors1 record

Funding detail is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

M&A

Investments

M&A and investment is available on the Subscription and Enterprise plan.Contact sales →

Frequently asked questions about Vail Scientific