Devices & Diagnostics, Health IT, Hospitals, Startups

Canadian entrepreneurs use UV light technology to speed up portable device disinfection in hospitals

Studies have shown that zapping medical devices with ultraviolet light can kill bacteria. That’s of […]

Studies have shown that zapping medical devices with ultraviolet light can kill bacteria. That’s of great interest to hospitals who are grappling with the challenge of how to eliminate or at least significantly reduce the number of patients contracting infections in their wards. The rise of the BYOD trend coupled with more portable medical devices has also increased the need to easily and rapidly disinfect these devices to prevent them from undermining hand washing protocols.

Early stage Canadian company Limestone Labs has developed a device called “Clean Slate” that claims to cut the amount of time it takes to cleanse portable medical devices (not in an operating room) of pathogenic bacteria from a few minutes to 30 seconds. The company is part of Blueprint Health’s seventh accelerator class and was among the 17 healthcare startups shortlisted for the Challenge Cup by the 1776 incubator in Washington DC next month.

CEO Taylor Mann said one of the challenges of infection control is pinpointing a source, which could be a portable device. It charges hospitals $175 per month for its Clean Slate devices. So far, three hospitals have signed up to use the devices and it recently received its first purchase order. It is currently raising $1 million to support its expansion.

The company’s team came from Queen’s University’s Summer Innovation Institute. It was part of a group started by faculty of Engineering and Applied Science and the Queen’s School of Business in 2012.

Other companies have been active in the area of UV light innovation, some longer than others. HexaTech is a Raleigh, North Carolina company spun off from North Carolina State, which developed UV LEDs as a disinfectant tool. Xenex and UltraViolet Devices also have been active in these areas.

There are limits to the effectiveness of UV light, according to data from the U.S. Food and Drug Administration’s website.

“Bacteria and viruses are more easily killed by UV light than are bacterial spores. UV radiation has several potential applications, but unfortunately its germicidal effectiveness and use is influenced by organic matter; wavelength; type of suspension; temperature; type of microorganism; and UV intensity, which is affected by distance and dirty tubes…”

[Photo credit: Centers for Disease Control/Janice Haney Carr/Jeff Hageman]

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