BY JOURNAL STAFF WRITER, EDMONTONJOURNAL.COM
APRIL 21, 2011

EDMONTON – A biofilm test kit made by a local firm has been given the seal of approval by a major international standards-setting body.

Innovotech Inc. (TSXV:IOT) said its MBEC Assay — a plastic kit that’s used for diagnostic and testing purposes — has been approved as a new standard by U.S.-based ASTM International.

The kit, a biofilm growth device, has been validated by ASTM for testing how effective hard surface disinfectants are at killing biofilms — communities of bacterial microorganisms that are often tough to fight.

“Currently, most disinfectants are evaluated using bacteria grown in suspension,” said Dr. Darla Goeres, a member of the ASTM subcommittee that reviewed Innovotech’s product.

“This method enables companies to determine the efficacy of products against bacteria in their more natural state, and therefore provides a better approach for predicting the efficacy of disinfectants under real-use conditions.”

Ken Boutilier, Innovotech’s CEO, said the ASTM’s approval is expected to boost demand for the test kits, which sell for about $20 apiece, among corporate and academic research scientists.

“This is really a tipping point for us, that a world recognized standards organization has accepted our technology,” he said. “It (reduces) the level of concern or scrutiny for every other regulatory agency in the world.”

In particular, Boutilier said the approval is expected to boost demand for Innovotech’s test kits among disinfectant makers.

“Any of them that want to go to the EPA (the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency) and ask for an anti-biofilm claim on a disinfectant would now have to use our technology to get this claim,” he said.

“We can’t say specifically what the magnitude of volume will be, but we think it’s going to be large because they would also use it for quality-assurance testing.”

Boutilier said the approval “paves the way for a new generation of disinfectants in the food industry and in hospitals.