iFabric Corp (IFABF)

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KEEP INNOVATING

“We’ve had an antiviral technology in our portfolio of technologies for a while—since 2010–2011,” says Giancarlo Beevis, president and CEO of Intelligent Fabric Technologies, a GTA-based biotech firm that developed the first antimicrobial textile chemical proven via U.S. codes to deactivate Sars-Cov-2, resulting in 241% year-over-year growth in the second quarter of 2020.

Giancarlo explains:

“One of the major U.S. cruise-lines was having issues with norovirus outbreaks on board their ships, causing them to dock and fly passengers home to try to control the outbreaks. They came to us and said, ‘What can you do to help us?’ We commissioned a study, and found the vector of transmission. Believe it or not, it was the reusable napkins on board. They were washing them between every use, but as the napkins were coming from housekeeping ‘clean,’ they were then being folded by staff to place them on your buffet table, and the staff member who was doing that could have—or did have—norovirus on their hands. And, then you’d wipe your face, and there was the point of transmission. We went to them with two options: We can impregnate any new napkins you purchase with PROTX2 AV [a proprietary antiviral] so it’s durable, or we can give you a laundry additive that you will utilize during each laundry cycle—that will give you an active surface.

We proved it out—killed 99.9% of the norovirus. Unfortunately, at the time, we were still young as a company, we weren’t public, and there was a large janitorial company that owned the exclusive rights to anything deemed as disinfecting or cleaning on board. They wanted to own it out right. We weren’t prepared to do that. It just got shelved.

We focused on the antibacterial side of our products. Even after COVID-19, bacterial infections are still the number-one cost to the healthcare system. We have a solution to help people and save lives during COVID-19, but, long-term, we also have a solution to help people in a ‘normal’ healthcare environment—fighting bacterial infections, preventing re-admittance and lengthier hospital stays.

As the story goes, one of our long-term partners called me and said, ‘I know about your antiviral technology—do you think it would work against COVID-19?’ I said, ‘I don’t know, but I don’t want to be one of those companies that [just] tests against coronavirus.’ You see a lot of companies out there with claims of ‘kills coronavirus,’ and then you read the testing, and it mentions human coronavirus, which is nothing more than a common cold—not what we’re trying to deal with in this pandemic. So, we scoured the globe to find an accredited laboratory equipped with a biosafety level-3 lab that could test this commercially for us. We found it with his help. And, proved we could kill Sars-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, in under ten minutes with residual kill for up to 24 hours—it was an amazing verification for our technology.”

Giancarlo’s story is an important reminder to be open to the different ways opportunities might take shape as a tech business evolves. Even though Intelligent Fabric Technologies had a proprietary disinfecting agent, the timing to go to market wasn’t right for them because they wanted to retain the ownership and market it as theirs. Bringing a vision to life can mean being nimble and pivoting; but it can also mean being patient for when the right time for an opportunity presents itself.

“We talk about technology leading the recovery—I think that is related to technology forcing everyone to evolve at such a pace it requires [traditional] businesses to become technology businesses,” Jeff observes.

Giancarlo continues:

“We try to look at what’s going on in the marketplace and see how we can do it better. We look for new areas, new things, new trends that are coming out. […] We look to find existing products that need a boost and need to be brought into the future with sustainability and better efficacy—not just accept the status quo.”

That commitment to innovation has been game-changing for Intelligent Fabric Technologies.

“We’re certain COVID-19 is here to stay, and it’s had such a dramatic impact—where we were talking about antivirals for cruise ships and medical environments, now we’re talking about making antiviral yoga pants. That’s how much of a catalyst recent events have been for our business.”

“We go for goal A, and we end up with a product that gives us goal B, or C, or even Z. We looked at a technology that we thought was going to be a durable, fluorine-free water repellant for textiles—turns out that this will instead be a carrier agent for our PROTX2 AV antiviral product that will allow us to create an active all-surface coating. This type of product will allow us to walk into a movie theatre or sports stadium and coat all surfaces with an active antiviral coating that lasts for six to twelve months between applications. That’s what we’re working on now. That’s not at all what we intended to do—that’s just the fantastic surprise that comes out of a lot of these innovations.”

Giancarlo adds a strategic caveat:

“What we’ve done in a lot of our technologies, especially the antimicrobial and the antiviral, is design them so that the mechanism of action does not create microbial adaption. As we’re heard, the COVID-19 virus is mutating; we’re showing our technology still kills it with any of the current mutations.”
https://insights.bdo.ca/technology/keep-innovating