Infection Control Means Big Business

Virox Technologies Inc. had a big year in 2008. In July they had a double celebration – first celebrating the company’s 10-year anniversary and second by moving into a new 47,000 sq. foot building on Coventry Road in Oakville – a facility that has already been zoned and approved for a future 20,000 sq. foot addition when necessary.

President and CEO, Randy Pilon, has no plans to move the company in the near future, and knows that Infection Control and the need for safer and more effective products is not just a passing fad.

Virox Technologies was formed in 1998 by a group of visionary entrepreneurs who acquired the rights to a technology that was 10 years in development.

Right from the beginning, Virox prided itself on being a technology driven company with a strong focus on building a world class research and development team that would pioneer the development of new disinfectant products that can answer the needs of the infection control community.

Pilon’s vision for the company was one of collaboration. His goal was to collaborate with the infection control community to develop disinfection products that would answer their needs. Additionally, he wanted to partner with the most reputable companies in each of the market segments that Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide® (AHP®) would be sold in order to help pioneer the introduction of the world’s first new disinfectant technology in over 20 years.

The success of the company’s patented and proprietary Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide speaks for itself. Virox manufactures branded and private label products and partners with market leaders in an array of industries who have all validated the scientific claims and market acceptance of the Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide technology.

Today, the Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide is registered by Health Canada, the Canadian Food Inspection Agency, the U.S. EPA, FDA and the Europe Union with the logo prominently displayed on products sold in 56 countries around the world by JohnsonDiversey in the industrial and institutional market; SciCan for the Dental market; STERIS Corporation for medical device reprocessing; Deb Canada for hand-care products; DeLaval for the dairy industry; and Bayer Healthcare for the veterinary market in Canada.

“We’re a proud partner of Virox Technologies,” said JohnsonDiversey President and CEO Ed Lonergan. “This unique line of safe, effective products is helping make the world a healthier place. There are no products that are more gentle on the environment while also providing a strong defence against the germs that threaten our health. We’re very optimistic about the long-term impact this technology can have on the world.”

From the limited number of products available in 1998, Virox now provides cleaning and disinfecting solutions that answer the needs for the Food Processing and Food Preparation market with No-Rinse Food Contact sanitizers, Environmental Surface cleaner-disinfectants used in virtually every market needing such products, instrument disinfectants for reprocessing medical devices and instruments used in tattoo parlours, spas, hospitals and medical clinics, and third party certified Green cleaning and disinfectant products that carry the EcoLogo or Green Seal certification logo.

The formulations manufactured today have changed dramatically from the original formulations first acquired in 1998. Pilon’s Open Innovation team who is tasked in developing products to answer the needs of partners or the infection control community and is continuously sourcing new chemicals that improve the sustainability of AHP. This continuous research has allowed AHP to be the first EcoLogo certified cleaner-disinfectant as well as Canada’s first Sporicidal Surface disinfectant to be registered by Health Canada with efficacy claims against (itals)Clostridium difficile(end) spores.

With each new formulation development the Open Innovation team also considers the formulation’s ability to be patented to ensure AHP maintains its proprietary status. Their success has lead to the issuance of five patents with a further six patents pending – an unprecedented feat in world where “me-too” product registrations are the norm.

When asked to comment on the future trend of disinfectant use, Dr. Syed Sattar, director of the Centre for Research and Environmental Microbiology (CREM) said that “Many disinfectants in wide use today will face increasing restrictions due to concerns over their safety to humans, potential for environmental damage as well as slow and limited microbicidal activities. This is at a time when the demand for disinfectants is growing at an unprecedented rate due to emerging and re-emerging pathogens in healthcare settings and the general community, making ‘prevention’, and not treatment, the operative word. We, therefore, desperately need better, safer and faster-acting formulations to fill the void. In my view, oxidizer-based products are the future rather than the remixing of what has been around for over half a century.”

Not to be outdone, the Quality Assurance and Regulatory Affairs department maintains stringent guidelines for all Quality Control testing starting at the chemicals and package material right through to the final manufactured product as well as a dedicated quality control person who is on the production floor monitoring each step of the production process for each and every batch of product manufactured.

Virox firmly believes that quality begins with scrupulous vendor selection, testing of incoming raw materials, ongoing employee training programs, constantly improving plant procedures and testing of finished products. The QA and Regulatory Affairs department is also tasked with ensuring the facility maintains its high manufacturing standard by overseeing the various establishment licenses and accreditations. Virox holds establishment licenses from Health Canada, the U.S. EPA as well as the U.S. FDA. They are also ISO 9001:2000 accredited.

In addition to the technical expertise given by the Open Innovation and Quality Assurance teams, Virox’s Professional and Technical Services team is responsible for marketing, professional and technical services, and management capabilities to adapt and commercialize AHP in conjunction with market leaders and to help develop commercial opportunities throughout the 20+ billion Global Market for cleaning and disinfection products. The Professional and Technical Services team ensures that the business platform is built on credibility, third-party validation through clinical research studies, peer-reviewed documentation and fact-based claim marketing. The Infection Control Community know that they can rely on this team to provide assistance be it through product training, creation of protocols, facility audits to review cleaning and disinfection practices or management of outbreaks.

“We’ve been very pleased with how responsive Virox has been to our needs over the past few years as we have been tackling Clostridium difficile outbreaks in the province,” said Dr. Michael Gardam, medical director of Infection Prevention and Control at the University Health Network. “Not only have they been able to quickly supply facilities with product, they have also been extremely helpful in training staff on how to properly use and handle disinfectants. We have had success in controlling CDAD in the province, and Virox certainly has a contributed to that success.”

When asked what he sees for the future, Pilon said that “Disinfection has gone main stream. Pre-SARS, disinfectants were targeted for use in the healthcare market with limited application in other market sectors. Today, we need only to turn on the television or open the newspaper to learn about the newest outbreak affecting not just hospitals, but affecting communities, schools and professional sports teams.”

According to Pilon, C. difficile, MRSA, Listeria, Norovirus and Avian Influenza have become household names. Five years ago the concept of disinfecting elevator buttons or door handles in office buildings was foreign; the understanding that sharing of equipment and poor personal hygiene could lead to illness or death was unheard of.

“Today, we know that as a society we need to take care to protect ourselves. We want Accelerated Hydrogen Peroxide to be at the forefront of everyone’s mind as the safest and most effective disinfectant product on the market,” he said. “Not just for use in hospitals, schools or professional buildings, but available for the consumer to use at home.”