Skinvisible Pharmaceuticals
This article was originally published in The Rose Sheet
Executive Summary
Las Vegas-based firm says its hand sanitizer lotion DermSafe kills/inactivates the H1N1 virus to the same detection level as 70% alcohol, as demonstrated in clinical testing carried out by Bioscience Laboratories, using American Society for Testing and Materials standards. Skinvisible says the outcome confirms results from previously announced in-vitro study conducted at European contract research organization Retroscreen Virology, which found the product achieves a 99.9% kill/inactivation of the H1N1 virus. "In some countries, this [research] allows Skinvisible to submit data for approval to include 'Kills H1N1' on the product label," firm notes. President and CEO Terry Howlett says latest clinical study "proves that Dermsafe is an effective alternative to alcohol, without the drying and safety issues." Active ingredient in DermSafe is chlorhexidine gluconate 4%, "used in hospital surgery rooms worldwide for over 50 years as a pre-surgical hand scrub," and contains the firm's Invisicare polymer delivery system that binds to skin, resisting wash-off for up to four hours for "continuous antimicrobial protection," according to Skinvisible. FDA and the Federal Trade Commission have joined forces in the U.S. to crack down on H1N1 claims by supplement manufacturers (1"The Tan Sheet" Oct. 19, 2009)