Founder, Robin Beck, gathered top scientists and researchers from around the world to tackle the ‘sharps’ injury’ problem—a constant challenge for surgeons and healthcare workers. This led to a new slate of enhanced elastomers and thin film technologies focused on sharps’ safety.
BioBarrier Founder, Robin Beck
BioBarrier, Inc. has developed an innovative line of advanced technologies applicable to medical gloves—surgical and exam. Designs and processes are focused on raising the level of protection provide to healthcare personnel.
The Company’s proprietary thin-film technologies incorporate multiple thin-film layers and optional chemical barriers to reduce and/or prevent the transmission of harmful pathogens that may be carried on needles and other sharps through accidental exposures. The Company’s first surgical glove product, the Double®Glove, is a single-donning latex product that features two independent surgical glove layers arising from a single cuff. This product was registered with the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) and has a 510(k) clearance.
The company believes its premium safety solutions will provide surgeons, nurses and other healthcare professionals with advanced glove protection that could substantially reduce the pathogen load leading to life-threatening infections.
The market for surgical gloves in the United States is currently approximately $705 million in annual sales, out of an approximate $1.5 billion worldwide. Importantly, the standard safety practice in the United States and developed countries is for surgeons and related personnel to wear two independent pairs of surgical gloves, one over the other–a practice called ‘double-gloving.’ However, studies show that most users find wearing two pairs of gloves is less comfortable and can reduce dexterity when compared to using a single glove. In addition, this practice has increased the healthcare facilities’ glove supply costs. The Company’s Double®Glove offers a significant advancement for both healthcare personnel and healthcare facilities – increased comfort and dexterity for users at an attractive price point.
The Company believes that the healthcare industry and its workers have a strong interest in adopting products that address healthcare workers risk of infection from pathogens, while at the same time providing cost savings for hospitals and other healthcare facilities. There has been an increase in public awareness and health concerns over transmission of HIV and hepatitis, especially among healthcare workers. The Needlestick Safety and Prevention Act (HR 5178, the “Needlestick Act”) requires hospitals and other healthcare institutions to annually review “commercially available and effective safer medical devices designed to eliminate or minimize occupational exposure.” BioBarrier believes its products will address healthcare workers’ concerns related to their encounters with sharps’ injuries and harmful pathogens encountered in the healthcare workplace.
BioBarrier has selected a manufacturing partner with FDA-registered, ISO 9002-compliant manufacturing facilities. The Company’s sales and marketing strategy is to enter into distribution contracts and/or private labeling agreements with well-established medical product marketing and distribution companies. Among the Company’s target markets will be the most safety conscious and sophisticated markets, which include the US and Western Europe (principally the United Kingdom (“UK”), Germany, Holland, Belgium and the Nordic countries.
The Company controls intellectual assets addressing infection prevention utilizing thin-film barriers technologies developed by Robin Beck, Founder and Chairman and is based in Irvine, CA.
