Manufacturing & Supply Chain

The Irish Times reported that a surface-coating technology developed by Irish company Kastus is effective against the coronavirus, a leading US testing laboratory has confirmed.

Founded in 2014, Kastus has pioneered an antimicrobial treatment that can be used to coat glass and ceramics or added to plastics and paint.

The treatment, which can be used on everything from smartphones to ceramic floor tiles and touchscreen kiosks, had previously been proven to have a 99.99 per cent kill rate against harmful bacteria and fungi including antibiotic-resistant superbugs such as MRSA and E.coli. Testing conducted by Nelson Laboratories in New York over the past month has now confirmed its effectiveness against the coronavirus that has led to the pandemic.

This validation is expected to lead to a huge surge in demand for Kastus’s technology from manufacturers. The company’s chief executive John Browne said: “This gives our customers and commercial partners a real unique selling point in that they are bringing out products that can help save people’s lives,” “It should also mean that businesses that are reopening following the lifting of restrictions will be better prepared to ensure public safety. Our technology is totally unique. We’ve spent about €1 million on our intellectual property portfolio and have been relatively aggressive with our IP strategy, always with a view that the day would come eventually and the penny would drop in regard to how important the solution is. We’ve been working on getting the testing done for a couple of months and it is great to get the validation through. We just got the results through last night so it was something nice to wake up to on a wet Wednesday morning,”

While the coating is primarily for use in new products, companies can add screen protectors retrospectively that have had the coating applied to provide protection. This means it could soon be used widely in products such as touchscreen kiosks in restaurants, shopping centres and airports.