NuPrep and 10 20: From Creation to Your Hands
- Dani Harris
- Apr 2
- 4 min read
Since my first exposure to the Neurodiagnostic field over 25 years ago, it feels as though not much has changed. From major hospitals to neurology clinics across the country, our products have remained the same. Nu Prep and 10 20 paste. I never gave it much thought, but this product is closer to home than you think.
Weaver and Company has been the sole creator and distributor of 10 20 and NuPrep since it's original concept started with a blender and a pharmacist, Dave Weaver, in 1978. Mr. Weaver was approached by an EEG tech looking to make a recipe passed down through the EEG community at a conference. This recipe became known as "Camel Snot" but formally known as Omni Prep. This was a mild skin abrasive used in EEG and ECG to prepare the skin for electrodes. It was thick and gooey, with an unpleasant brown color.
Mr. Weaver began his journey in growing a business with his hands and a blender. Seeing a gap in available products, Mr. Weaver decided to patent and market this formula for sale. This first product quickly gained the nickname "Camel Snot", formally known as OMNI Prep.
This began the Journey of Weaver and Company. Slowly growing this company in a small town just outside Denver Colorado. As it happens, where Weaver and company started at a conference, so did my introduction to the creator and maker of NuPrep and 10 20. Dave Weaver (Weaver and company) met Steven Estes (CEO of Integris Neuro LLC) at a conference. This meeting was by chance and led me to the opportunity to meet Mr. Weaver and tell his story.
I was traveling and found myself in Denver Colorado. I was able to arrange a factory tour to meet Mr. Weaver and his amazing family oriented organization. The first thing that struck me was the location of the factory and company. It started in a small one shop strip complex with one small shop. As the company grew, so did Mr. Weaver's vision.
As any small business starts, we rely on outside sources. This was no different for Mr. Weaver. All of their products were lab tested by an outside source. As the company grew with the product demands, Mr. Weaver started growing his company by investing in their own testing equipment. This would ultimately be the company's model for growth. Develop, expand and create. They began acquiring one shop at a time until Weaver and company had expanded to both sides of the industrial complex.
Eventually Omni Prep was developed into NuPrep and 10 20. With the growing company and the vision to keep everything self contained from product development, manufacturing and quality testing, Mr. Weaver and his team created an industry wide product that we all have used at one point or another.
How did Weaver and Company become the the leading product provider for Neurodiagnostics and Cardiac testing? Word of mouth. Sounds simple but the journey in creating a business that is thriving and successful based on word of mouth is harder than it sounds. Weaver and company was approached by industry leaders in medical equipment to provide samples of NuPrep and 10 20 with their equipment purchases. This eventually led to Weaver and Company becoming the industry leaders for products used in Neurodiagnostics and Cardiac fields internationally.
With every step of the way, Weaver and Company has invested in itself and it's employees. Being able to walk around the facilities and meeting all of the employees, it's very clear that Weaver operates more like a family business than an international corporation. The focus being on how to be the best at what they do as a team. The company itself is definitely focused on the team as a whole. Everyone in the company is used to seeing Mr. Weaver and they are on a first name basis. Everyone is important, no matter what role they play or position they hold in the company.
Once the company invested in their own testing equipment, they started to upgrade their operations with industrial mixing and filling stations. Quickly outgrowing the demand as they upgraded equipment, Mr. Weaver saw an opportunity to innovate and grow the company with more than bigger equipment. They introduced a state of the art water filtration system that would be able to grow with their production needs as the demand for product grows.
Investing in the company itself is evident by the way they remodeled their corporate office (one 1/2 side of the complex) into an employee area with a fully stocked break kitchen! That's right, not a small break room with an outdated coffee pot! They have made their employees feel like they are part of the company and not just a worker. Contributing to the overall success of the company and not an individual is evident in how The company expands, upgrades and keeps adding to their workforce with longstanding employees that seem to want to stay from the beginning through the future.
Who knew that something most of us use every day is created right here in the US? Not in some far away untouchable place. The next time you use NuPrep or 10 20, remember that it came from people just like us that share a passion for industry standards and providing the safest care possible!
For more information about Weaver and Company, Check out their website:
A special thanks To Dave Weaver and both Pam's for sharing their story and their history with me and all of us!
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