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Doctor Alain Sarasin, CNRS research director, Institut Gustave Roussy, spoke on 8 July to Thierry Rouleau and Christian Joubert, respectively President and Sales Director of the company OXY’PHARM,
as part of the 3rd “Biotesting Thursday” organised by POLEPHARMA. The main theme of this presentation: controlling risk of infection through bio-cleaning, an eco-responsible and sustainable method.
Dr. Sarasin shares with us his experience in airborne surface disinfection (ASD) and tells us about the implementation in his laboratory, for over 15 years, of the SANIVAP steam bio-cleaning and NOCOTECH automated bio-disinfection solutions offered by OXY’PHARM.
Hello Mr Sarasin. First of all, a few words to introduce yourself…
“I am a CNRS research director, director of the laboratory for the diagnosis of the so-called “children of the moon” disease, a tumour disease that causes skin cancer. My laboratory is located in Villejuif, near Paris, at the Institut Gustave Roussy, a university hospital and the leading cancer centre in Europe.”
Why and since when have you been using ASD?
“Initially, our laboratory analysed mutagenesis and carcinogenesis in humans. For disinfection, we used – like everyone else at the time – formaldehyde, a very effective but irritating disinfectant, which leads to lesions forming on the DNA molecule and therefore to mutations and potentially cancers. In a laboratory that studies cancer risks, using carcinogenic material was a particularly unwelcome idea. This is one of the reasons why we turned to OXY’PHARM around fifteen years ago.”
Why did you change your disinfection method to ASD?
“We chose the DSVA after taking several criteria into account.
– The first was that we wanted to use a biocompatible disinfectant, i.e. one that is non-toxic to humans and whose breakdown products are themselves toxic. The hydrogen peroxide-based process, called NOCOTECH and developed by OXY’PHARM, is itself disinfectant and its degradation products, water and oxygen, are totally biocompatible.
– The second special feature of the bio-disinfection method proposed by OXY’PHARM is that it uses hydrogen peroxide in gaseous form and treats the entire room, including surfaces out of reach of the operators, using just a sponge.
– The third criterion that we took into account was the effectiveness of ASD within a very short time. It only takes about an hour to disinfect a conventional culture room with the NOCOTECH system, and the disinfected room can be accessed after just an hour. This disinfection operation, which can be carried out in a total of two hours, can therefore be started easily, for example at lunchtime or in the evening, whereas the use of formaldehyde would have meant blocking the room for two to three days.
What are the advantages of ASD in laboratories and cleanrooms in general?
“The compound used by OXY’PHARM – hydrogen peroxide – has long been known for its ability to completely degrade all germs, including multi-resistant bacteria and those used in genetic engineering: it also acts on viruses.
In our laboratory, where adenovirus is used as a vector to deliver DNA into cells, we have found that the NOCOTECH solution is effective in degrading all viruses. The bio-disinfection process also has the enormous advantage of not damaging surfaces or materials – including electronic ones – in the room to be disinfected; we are therefore not obliged to protect the surfaces. The technique also has no impact on fire alarms and incubator temperature control alarms.”
How do you use this solution in your laboratory at the CNRS?
“In our laboratory, we use OXY’PHARM solutions to disinfect all the rooms in which we handle human biological material such as the in vitro reconstructed skin that we produce from patient biopsies. Many units are therefore involved: from the classic cell culture rooms, to the so-called L2 laboratories where viruses are used as vectors to bring DNA into cells, to the L3 units where we make “transgenic” viruses that incorporate pieces of human DNA. All these parts L1, L2 and L3 are disinfected using the NOCOTECH system. Similarly, we disinfect the laminar flow hoods in which we handle human biological extracts, the incubators and, more generally, all the places where we may come into contact with biopsies or the culture of human cells.”
“Specific processes have been developed for MSCs, depending mainly on the number of stations to be treated,” says Thierry Rouleau. “The NOCOTECH system can be placed inside or outside the MSC, and allows not only surfaces but also HEPA filters; an alternative to filter replacement, which is very beneficial in terms of time, efficiency and cost.”
The final word?
“We have been using the NOCOTECH solution for fifteen years now, and we are still using it. This proves that we are fully satisfied! We were the first ones at the Gustave Roussy Institute to implement this product, but for the last ten years or so, all the research laboratories have been using it – around thirty of us at the Gustave Roussy Institute – they also use it as far as I know they are all delighted with it.”
“I would like to emphasise that this gaseous bio-disinfection process generates absolutely no residue. This is a very important and sets it aside compared to other ASD techniques,” says Christian Joubert. “It is also important to remember that there is no risk of corrosion and that there are no problems using this technique on electronic surfaces. When treating a laboratory, nothing can be excluded; on the contrary, you can even add some things! “
“The NOCOTECH system can also be used for preventive disinfection”, adds Mr Rouleau. “A daily treatment with extremely low doses (1ml per m3 instead of the 5 ml per m3 recommended by the standard) maintains the sterility of the treated room very effectively.
Finally, it should be noted that the effectiveness of the products and the concept of surface disinfection by air developed by OXY’PHARM has been demonstrated on viruses, bacteria, mycobacteria, yeasts, spores and fungi. Its diffusion machines allow for the automated processing of both small volumes (operating room, laboratory, etc.) and very large volumes (food industry, pharmaceutical industry, etc.). The OXY’PHARM concept is aimed at the medical, pharmaceutical and food sectors, as well as tourism, transport, catering and local authorities (nurseries, schools, etc.).
Nowadays, the OXY’PHARM Group is proud to have nearly 70 employees, including technicians, sales representatives, engineers, chemists, etc. Its head office is based in Champigny-sur-Marne, near Paris, where it also centralises all the production of its NOCOTECH range, in parallel with the production of the SANIVAP range of devices, which occurs in the Lyon region in Sainte Consorce, making OXY’PHARM a 100% French producer, whose products are distributed throughout the world.
OXY’PHARM is ISO 13485:2016 certified, an international standard that establishes the requirements for a quality management system specific to the medical device sector. SANIVAP devices also comply with the NF 72110 standard for surface disinfection processes using steam with or without contact. The NOCOTECH system is compliant with ASD (airborne surface disinfectionDSVA) – NF T72281 (November 2014 version), recently transformed at European level under the EN 17272 standard – which is a mandatory standard for the authorisation to place these processes on the French market in patient care environments. A marketing authorisation is expected soon.
Read more:
www.oxypharm.net / www.sanivap.fr
info@oxypharm.net / info@sanivap.fr
Tel. : +33 (0)1 45 18 78 70 / +33 (0)4 37 22 55 59
OXY’PHARM has been specialising in the fight against infections and contaminations for almost 20 years. “Since 2006, when formaldehyde – which until then had been widely used in disinfection protocols – was classified as a carcinogen, we have been working to develop a new airborne surface disinfection process based on hydrogen peroxide in gaseous form. The system, called NOCOTECH, is now used in over 140 countries,” explains Thierry Rouleau.
“Initially focused on disinfection, we then expanded our field of expertise to bio-cleaning, a preparatory act before bio-disinfection, by acquiring in 2019 the company SANIVAP, a French manufacturer and distributor of steam bio-cleaning devices and associated tools (brushes, brooms, etc.). The entire philosophy of the company has since been focused on these two complementary operations – bio-cleaning and bio-disinfection – with the aim to avoid any risk of resistant bacteria emerging”, adds Mr Rouleau.
Therefore, in line with the two key stages of the bio-cleaning process, i.e. decontamination and disinfection [see our article in the May 2021 issue], OXY’PHARM is now offering a complete hygiene solution based on the combination of two technologies: steam bio-cleaning with the SANIVAP range, and automated surface bio-disinfection with the NOCOTECH range.