Kobie Mouton, Founder of XLTA: From Grief to Breakthrough – How One Inventor Turned Family Pain into a Global Solution

An Interview with Kobie Mouton, Founder of XLTA By Guillaume Viallaneix | Editor-in-Chief, The MedTech Digest & President, MedTech Momentum

From Grief to Breakthrough: How One Inventor Turned Family Pain into a Global Solution

Guillaume Viallaneix: Kobie, thank you for joining us. Your journey is more than a successful business story; it’s a human one. And we’re proud to share it with The MedTech Digest community.

At The MedTech Digest, we believe in spotlighting the founders and technologies shaping the future of healthcare. Our team at MedTech Momentum is honored to support XLTA as you bring XLTA® Hydrocapillary Triple-Action™ technology to the U.S. market.

Sometimes innovation doesn’t start in a lab; it starts at home.

For Kobie Mouton, it started with heartbreak. His grandmother suffered from chronic leg ulcers so severe that they filled a room with odor. She endured pain and indignity, treated with sugar, coffee, and gauze; crude substitutes for advanced wound care. That memory never left him. It hurt. And it sparked a determination.

Kobie wasn’t a clinician or an engineer. He was a lawyer. But when his brother, already working in wound care, invited him into the field, Kobie saw not just a clinical challenge, but a human tragedy — and more importantly, a possibility.

Over two decades, Kobie pushed through failure, doubt, and reinvention to pioneer a wound dressing system now redefining exudate management: XLTA®, a next-generation hydrocapillary dressing designed to simplify care, reduce patient pain, and support natural healing.

GV: Kobie, take us back. What made you believe you could change wound care — especially as someone outside the system?

KM: Honestly? It was personal. My grandmother’s ulcers were devastating. I’ll never forget her suffering. I didn’t know anything about wound care, but I knew what was being used wasn’t working. When my brother asked me to explore this space with him, I said yes — not because I was qualified, but because I cared. And I believed there had to be a better way.

GV: What was the “aha” moment that eventually became XLTA®?

KM: It came from watching clinicians struggle. They layered gauze, applied creams, changed dressings constantly, all while trying to manage exudate and infection with multiple products. I thought: What if we could simplify this? What if one dressing could do it all? That idea became XLTA®, a hydrocapillary system that absorbs, locks, and disperses fluid, helps manage bioburden, and protects the wound bed. It’s advanced science, but designed for everyday usability.

GV: XLTA has been called “deceptively simple.” What exactly does it do — and why does simplicity matter?

KM: XLTA® is a super-absorbent, non-adherent dressing made from natural fibers. Its Hydrocapillary Triple-Action™ combines three mechanisms: Hydrocapillary flow rapidly absorbs and distributes exudate vertically and horizontally. Electrostatic action helps manage bioburden by attracting harmful bacteria and proteases, and proteolytic balance supports a stable wound environment by minimizing excess enzymatic activity. This means XLTA® manages moisture, reduces barriers to healing, and removes gently without trauma. No secondary dressings. No harsh chemicals. Just a cleaner, simpler way to support healing. And simplicity matters, because less complexity means less pain for patients, less stress for clinicians, and lower overall costs.

GV: Can you share a moment where XLTA® truly changed someone’s life?

KM: One case I’ll never forget: a patient with severe leg ulcers was scheduled for amputation. A clinic used XLTA® with only saline, no advanced adjunct therapies. The response was incredible. The wound improved so quickly that the amputation was canceled. That man kept both legs. That’s why we do this. That’s what keeps me going.

GV: You’ve said your journey was more about listening than inventing. What do you mean?

KM: I didn’t come in with a technical ego. I came with questions. I listened to clinicians, nurses, and patients. I asked what wasn’t working and what they wished for. Then I built something that responded to those needs. Sometimes the best innovations aren’t about being flashy, they’re about being useful.

GV: People doubted you. Some said it was too simple to work. How did you respond?

KM: Oh, I heard that all the time. “You’re not a doctor. It’s too simple.” But I wasn’t trying to impress the industry, I was trying to help a patient. And once clinicians saw the results, the doubts disappeared. Simplicity often turns out to be the most powerful form of innovation.

GV: Your journey wasn’t a straight line — you had exits, setbacks, even starting over. What kept you going?

KM: The mission. Before XLTA®, I co-invented and eventually sold Drawtex, a wound dressing that today continues to help tens of thousands of patients around the world. But I believed the science could go further. So after exiting that business, I started over — filing new patents, making the product better, and building what I call the next generation: XLTA®. XLTA® is the result of listening to decades of clinician feedback and relentlessly improving. What kept me going was the belief that patients deserved better — and that we could deliver it.

GV: What do you hope XLTA® represents as it enters the U.S. market?

KM: I hope XLTA® shows that wound care doesn’t have to be complicated to be effective. That innovation can come from empathy. And that one dressing, designed with simplicity, science, and humanity in mind, can change not only wounds, but lives.

Closing Note Kobie Mouton’s story is one of persistence, compassion, and invention. With XLTA® Hydrocapillary Triple-Action™, he has transformed a painful family memory into a global innovation now entering the U.S. market. For patients, it means less pain and more dignity. For clinicians, it means confidence and simplicity. And for wound care as a whole, it signals the beginning of a new standard.

If you would like to be part of the XLTA success story in the United States, whether as a clinician, partner, or supporter, we invite you to visit www.xltacure.com or reach out directly to Kobie Mouton at kobie@xltaholdings.com to explore opportunities for collaboration and impact.

This interview is part of Experts in Motion—an exclusive series from The MedTech Digest featuring bold insights from the leaders shaping tomorrow’s healthcare technology.

Subscribe today for future interviews, trend forecasts, and field-tested strategies.