Treat Each Person as a Cleanroom Product

Radiant Fibertech PVT Supplier of Face Mask Fabric

Suominen Introduces New Material for EN Type II Facemasks

AKAS Layered Fabrics Outperform N95 Meltblown in Filtration Efficiency

Jacob Holm Teams with Under Armour on Face Masks

H&V Continues to Expand Capacity to Mitigate  COVID

Nanofiber Masks Compare Favorably in Both Efficiency and Comfort

Investors Discuss New Startups in the COVID Battle

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Treat Each Person as a Cleanroom Product

To protect pharmaceutical products from airborne contamination we do not consult with doctors or epidemiologists, we instead rely on cleanroom specialists.

We do not rely on distancing the product from the source of contamination instead we protect the product by assuring that the air with which it comes in contact is as free of contaminants as possible.  Billions of dollars have been spent by the cleanroom industry to achieve this goal.  It is their expertise which needs to be absorbed by government decision makers.

COVID is not transmitted by fleas, mosquitoes or contaminated food. Transmission through touching surfaces is now being downgraded as a source. The consensus main source is aerosols.  There is disagreement about what percentage is from small aerosols which travel long distance as  opposed to those that travel less than six feet.  But in either case the purification of the air being inhaled is the solution.

We are relying primarily on the advice of physicians and epidemiologists in making what has proven to be some disastrous decisions (e.g. not wearing masks and not worrying about HVAC systems).  These would be the first  areas of focus for a cleanroom designer. The new evidence of the way COVID is transmitted should lead us to cleanroom experts and treat people the way we would a valuable pharmaceutical product.

 

Radiant Fibertech PVT Supplier of Face Mask Fabric

Radiant Fibertech Pvt. Ltd. started the production of nonwoven fabric in 2012 with the brand name REDIFIL. The Indian manufacturing plant is located on Rajkot – Gondal National Highway No. 8-B, at Bhunava. The prime aim for selecting the plant location is the proximity of the plant to transportation facility, continuous power supply and availability of skilled & semiskilled labors.

With the main objective of protecting the environment from degradation, they are committed to supply quality nonwoven fabric made from 100% Polypropylene which is durable, attractive, cost effective and eco-friendly. It is producing nonwoven fabric from 10 GSM to 200 GSM with maximum width of 1600 mm with more than 25 attractive colors. The installed capacity of the  plant is 1800 mt./annum which is used for

·         Surgical Gowns & Aprons

·         Face masks,

·         Gloves & caps

·         Top sheets of Baby Diapers

·         Fastener tapes for Baby Diaper[BM1] 

Suominen Introduces New Material for EN Type II Facemasks

Suominen has developed a nonwoven material for the manufacture of facemask applications. The new nonwoven has passed European Standard EN 14683:2019 Type II requirements in terms of filtration efficiency and pressure drop.

“Our FIBRELLA Shield nonwoven has excellent filtration efficiency and pressure drop values meaning that the material provides protection while being comfortable and easy to breathe through. Measured with an applied method by VTT results indicate that FIBRELLA Shield nonwoven’s filtration efficiency is higher than 99% reaching type II requirements but of course the material can also be used for lighter model Type I masks or uncertified masks,” said Category Manager, Johanna Sirén.

The standard EN14683:2019 for medical masks is for end products and the converter has to repeat the tests to confirm the standard compliancy for the end product. The end product needs to comply also with the regional regulations, if any.

Developed in cooperation with VTT, this new material is the latest addition to the FIBRELLA family. FIBRELLA Shield is already in production at Suominen’s Nakkila plant in Finland. Currently the plant is capable of producing material for approximately 15 million masks per month.

AKAS Layered Fabrics Outperform N95 Meltblown in Filtration Efficiency

A new study by Northeastern University found that a facemask constructed using fabrics manufactured by AKAS Textiles, a Pennsylvania-based textile manufacturer, outperformed an N95 respirator in an aqueous media under positive pressure of 20 Kilo Pascal, simulating a sneeze/cough. The study tested more than 70 different common fabric combinations and masks, including the N95 respirator, for their ability to block the transmission of virus-like nanoparticles. The mask with the best filtration was made of layers of ProCool Performance Fabrics combined with Zorb 3D Stay Dry Dimple fabric. The combination of these fabrics tested 72% more effective than the N95 respirator.

The study was published in ACS Nano, a monthly, peer-reviewed scientific journal published by the American Chemical Society. The authors wrote, “Layered systems of commonly available fabric materials can be used by the public and healthcare providers in face masks to reduce the risk of inhaling viruses with protection that is about equivalent to or better than the filtration and adsorption offered by 5-layer N95 respirators. The masks were evaluated with steady-state, forced convection air flux with pulsed aerosols that simulate forceful respiration”.

 

Jacob Holm Teams with Under Armour on Face Masks

Jacob Holm, the manufacturer of Sontara fabrics and other nonwovens for medical and wipes applications, is ramping up material for PPE. The company will implement a company-wide investment program that would lead to a 500 million square meter capacity expansion annually. The program, called Project Boost, began last month and will be completed by the third quarter of 2022.

“Project Boost is our response to the needs of our partners across the globe for increasing capacity, providing more sustainable substrate choices and continuing to hold our position as an innovation leader in nonwovens,” says CEO Martin Mikkelsen.

Last month, the company reported that it had seen a 65% increase in its Sotnara medical fabric during the Coronavirus pandemic, leading two of its five sites to report record production levels in April.

“This situation is unprecedented,” Mikkelsen says. “However, for Jacob Holm as a company, the only way forward is to lean in to what we know and use the full force of our experience to help contain the spread of COVID-19 and make a positive impact on the wellbeing of our communities.” Among Jacob Holm’s efforts in the fight against Covid-19 was a partnership with sport performance brand Under Armour to make face masks and isolation gowns.
 

H&V Continues to Expand Capacity to Mitigate  COVID

Hollingsworth & Vose, has shifted its focus beyond its traditional markets like medical, automotive and filtration to create a material for non-surgical gowns on an accelerated timeline. “H&V had already been manufacturing critical materials used in the fight against Covid-19 including filtration media for N95 respirators, ventilator filtration media and the materials used in surgical hoods so it made sense for us to see how else we might be able to meet the needs of healthcare workers on the front lines,” says Jeff Crane, segment leader, H&V.

Nanofiber Masks Compare Favorably in Both Efficiency and Comfort

A research team led by Professor Ick Soo Kim of Shinshu University's Institute for Fiber Engineering (IFES) looked into the effectiveness of sterilizing N95 masks. They looked at commercially available melt-blown nonwoven fabric N95 masks and nonwoven nanofiber masks with N95 filters. They examined the filtration efficiency, comfort of the wearer, and filter shape change after washing and disinfecting. The methods of disinfection test involved directly spraying 75% ethanol on the mask filter and air drying and soaking the mask filter in 75% ethanol solution for 5 minutes to 24 hours and leaving it to air dry naturally.

Filtration efficiency of both of the filters (melt-blown filter and the nanofiber filter) was 95% or more before use, which indicates that the respiratory organs of the wearer can be effectively protected. The tests also clarified that the inside of the filter can be effectively sterilized by spraying ethanol three times or more or immersing it in an ethanol solution for more than five minutes. However, when the mask was reused after the ethanol disinfection, the filtration efficiency of the melt-blown filter decreased to 64%. On the other hand, the nanofiber filter did not deteriorate in filter performance even after ten or more uses.

Melt-blown filters work on the principle of electrostatic charge for the removal of particulate matter, as in the result of ethanol spraying or dipping the electrostatic charge on the surface of melt-blown filter was lost, so efficiency of melt-blown filter was significantly decreased. On the other hand, filtration mechanism of nanofiber filter is independent of static charge and fully dependent on pore diameter, pore distribution, and morphology of nanofibers. As in the result of disinfection, morphology of nanofibers was not affected, thus it also maintained its filtration as optimum as it was before use.

In addition, the nanofiber filter has higher heat emission and carbon dioxide emission performance than the melt-blown filter and exhibits excellent breathability. Similarly, it was confirmed that the nanofiber filter had lower cytotoxicity than the melt-blown filter when a safety experiment using human skin and vascular cells was performed.

Comparison of mask filter performance after ethanol disinfection: The nanofiber filter has air permeability even after being washed. The melt-blown filter has its mesh structure changed by ethanol sterilization and its performance is deteriorated.

As stated above, both mask filters have similar filtering performance at the time of first use, but after disinfecting and reusing, the nanofiber filter does not exhibit performance deterioration. In other words, nanofiber filters can be easily sterilized with ethanol at home and reused multiple times.

"This research is an experimental verification of the biological safety of nanofiber masks and the maintenance of filtration efficiency after washing, which has recently become a problem," Professor Cha Hyung Joon states, who co-presided the research. Professor Ick Soo Kim hopes that nanofiber masks will serve as a means of prevention in the second and third wave of coronavirus infections.

 

Investors Discuss New Startups in the COVID Battle

This is a summary of a live panel ran by SOSV to introduce and discuss solutions funded by some of the most active investors in the field. Each of the three funds (Fifty Years, Khosla Ventures, SOSV) had published an impressive list of their relevant portfolio startups. IndieBio even made a call to fund Covid-fighting startups as part of its newly launched NYC program.

Protecting our face

• Many masks don’t effectively protect against infection as the virus is too small (about 120nm). Verdex (a SOSV portfolio company) has developed a nanofiber material that filters out particles above 100nm — effectively blocking the virus — and is also more breathable.
• HabitAware, a HAX portfolio company, had created a machine-learning-powered bracelet to prevent body-focused repetitive behaviors (e.g. nail biting) by recognizing and alerting of specific gestures. The pandemic provided a new direct application of their technology.

Disinfecting everything

The ‘new normal’ is making frequent and thorough disinfection of our living and working environment necessary, to protect us and helps us get back to work.

• HAX has invested in various solutions for this, from floor cleaning (Avidbots) to toilet cleaning (Somatic).
• The dry cleaning robot startup Presso announced its solution initially intended for business travels was now in high-demand with movie and TV studios who are resuming operations.
• Youibot, an autonomous logistics startup, managed to repurpose their technology to provide disinfection with UV-C lights, and temperature detection.

Testing with devices

On the testing front, several countries have introduced testing stations that look like phone booths. Some are also using helmets with IR sensors to detect potential infections.

Some wearable device companies like Oura and Strados Labs are applying their technology to pre-symptom detection or monitoring.

Treatment

Treating the virus is complicated, as it might also involve treating the immune response, and support the recovery of patients.

·         Various large and small companies are working on vaccine candidates,

·         Some companies are trying to develop new drugs, or repurpose existing ones for a faster time-to-market

The lack of equipment — particularly respirators — is being addressed partly by repurposing other devices. Among them are snorkeling masks and BIPAP/CPAP machines. Decathlon donated their stock of snorkeling mask to hospitals.

Finally, alongside this pandemic comes tremendous emotional harm due to stress, economic uncertainty and unemployment. Some companies such as Feel are working on low-cost solutions to help people improve their mental health.

Seth Bannon, Founding Partner at Fifty Years

• The Covid-19 threat is reminiscent of WWII, with potential deaths in the tens of millions.
• WWII gave us many tech innovations such as: mass production of antibiotics, blood plasma as a therapeutic solution, skin grafts, flu vaccine, radar, microwave ovens, pressurized plane cabins, nuclear power and the first programmable digital computer. It laid the foundation of technical progress for many years to come. A similar rally today could build solutions for the future.
• Everyone who can help should help, and 17 of our portfolio companies did.
• HelixNano (from the George Church lab at Harvard). Working on a vaccine to counteract SARS-Cov-2 evolutions and antigenic drift.
• BillionToOne found a way to run a test on Sanger sequencers at low cost and high volume.
• Opentrons (a co-investment with Khosla and SOSV) built a low-cost lab robot to automate liquid handling, already deployed in multiple labs around the world to test covid.
  
  

An Opentrons robot in Italy (source: 24ORE)

• Voodoo Manufacturing directed their cloud farm of 3D printers to focus on combating Covid-19 by producing PPE and more at cost.
• Solugen, that makes hydrogen peroxide, realized they had the capacity to make hand sanitizer and now do so pro-bono.

Alex Morgan, Partner at Khosla Ventures

• Khosla has over $1B under management, including a main and seed fund.
• The goal is to ‘reinvent social infrastructure with technology’, looking for investments combining financial returns with societal impact (e.g. Impossible Foods, Color, etc.). We also have a list of companies responding to Covid-19.
• Genalyte has a FDA-approved testing solution that takes 15min. Current capacity is about~250k patients / month.
• Luminostics designed an optical test that can be run with a small device attached to a phone.

• Pardes Bio is a recent investment working on a therapeutic using a protease inhibitor.
• Prellis Biologics (IndieBio/SOSV co-investment) is a tissue engineering company that can 3d print lymph nodes ex vivo to produce therapeutic antibodies (here are a recent video interview and media coverage).
• Some other investments also focus on the distribution of care, and particularly mental health, such as Ginger (remote service for mental health) and Flow Neuroscience (a SOSV/HAX co-investment offering a drug-free treatment for depression using an at-home brain stimulation device, already on sale in EU/UK).

Jun Axup, Chief Science Officer & Partner at IndieBio

• IndieBio is the life sciences accelerator program of SOSV, based in SF and NYC and investing globally. It invested in 136 companies including Memphis Meats, Clara Food and Perfect Day in the cellAg space.
• CASPR Biotech uses

·         CRISPR for low-cost testing (covered by NYT).

·         Renegade.Bio was founded as a lab to test at high speed and large volume.

·         ANA Therapeutics is repurposing an anti-worm treatment toward Zika, SARS and now Covid.

·         Halomine found a way to keep surfaces free of viruses by stabilizing chlorine, making the protective film last up to 30 days instead mere hours.