AvantGuard, Inc. is pleased to announce a $1.7 million Phase II SBIR award from the National Institutes of Health (NIH) to continue development of AvantGuard247™. This award will allow AvantGuard to test efficacy against pathogens that are problematic in healthcare environments, extend AvantGuard247’s™ use by developing a wipe-based product, and investigate the potential for an optimum companion product that can maximize biocidal efficacy of the product in service.
AvantGuard247™ is a spray-on product that, when dried, leaves a thin transparent film on a surface and turns the surface into a chlorine battery. A chlorine-based disinfectant applied to a surface protected by AvantGuard247 will leave behind the same level of chlorine found in a pool for days, weeks or months. That chlorine is active against pathogens and will dissipate over time, but can be re-charged every time a chlorine-based disinfectant is used again. AvantGuard247™ is the only product that can pass EPA testing protocols as the supplemental residual antimicrobial coatings and films against bacteria and an enveloped virus surrogate for SARS-CoV-2. In fact, the EPA tested twenty commercial products and none of the spray-on products passed. AvantGuard247™ is AvantGuard, Inc.’s first product and is protected by exclusively licensed patents from Auburn University and Cornell University.
In the US, about 1.7 million Healthcare-Associated Infections (HAls) occur in hospitals each year, resulting in 99,000 deaths and an estimated $20 billion in healthcare costs. According to previous reports, as much as one third of HAI cases can be attributed to environmental surfaces, namely “high touch” surfaces (e.g., bed rails, machine buttons, equipment), in hospitals. Self-sanitizing coatings, i.e., antimicrobial surfaces, are an ideal solution for eliminating persistent pathogens; however there has been no commercially available antimicrobial material which can achieve high efficacy against pathogens while also being easy to apply, have broad material compatibility, show no resistance development, and be cost-effective.
About AvantGuard
AvantGuard is a chemistry-based technology and product company creating innovative solutions that provide long-term protection against viruses, bacteria, and fungi/mold, in a wide variety of applications. The company's unique proprietary combinations of specialty molecules and polymers are customized to provide prolonged antimicrobial efficacy to a wide range of surfaces and materials. AvantGuard's revolutionary solutions can not only protect against pathogens for weeks or months, but also make surfaces easier to clean, resist adhesion, prevent fouling, and inhibit the formation of biofilms.