A few months back, an Indian startup, Thermaissance, got the certificate from US-based highest rated laboratory on something they were already sure about – Thermaissance’s products can inactivate 99.99% coronavirus in less than an hour. This unique innovation from Indian startup made headlines across the globe. Since then, the startup has been flooded with various inquiries from India and outside India on how they can inactivate coronaviruses.
“We have been working on nano technology based textiles products since 2016. Nanoparticles that we use in the fabrics make the fabrics very adhesive to viruses. Once the viruses are stuck to the fabrics, the nanoparticles start pulling apart the membrane of the viruses and completely destroys the virus envelope. The virus thus gets inactivated and is incapable to cause any damage. Since the size of novel coronavirus is also in nanometers (60-140 nanometers), we were confident that our nanotechnology should also work on destroying novel coronavirus and test report from US laboratory confirmed this,” says the founder and chief executive officer, Manish Raval, a Biomedical graduate from the USA with over eight years of research experience at top three healthcare companies in the USA.
Various research shows that viruses and bacteria can remain active on textile surfaces for two days. Thus, it is remarkable for a young technical textiles Indian startup to develop fabrics that inactivate almost 100% of coronavirus in a few minutes.
The company claims that Thermaissance’s technology is 100% safe and does not cause any skin irritation. They do not use any harmful chemical or any banned substances in their products, as certified by a NABL accredited laboratory in Mumbai. Thermaissance’s fabrics have also passed flammability testing and are categorized as Class I fabrics. This is one of the important criteria for use in any Healthcare settings. Thermaissance has already launched Reusable Face Masks, Reusable PPE, Medical Scrubs, Surgical Gowns, and Patient Clothing. They are soon launching Reusable Gloves. They have also registered their Face Masks and Medical Scrubs with US-FDA.
“We started with anti-bacterial collection in 2016 and have recently launched our Covid-killer collection after the US laboratory confirmed our technology’s effectiveness against coronavirus. We have got tremendous response to our Covid killer range, and are already exporting to 12 countries so far, including to USA and Canada. Advanced stage discussions for large scale distribution of our various products are already underway. We have also entered into long term agreements with several international players for supplying our innovative fabrics outside of India,” says Hemali Sangani, chief strategy officer at Thermaissance, who is an MBA from Ivy-League Business School in the USA.
Raval said, “There are many players who have launched anti-viral textiles and anti-viral masks in recent times. Many of these players use coating-based solutions. The anti-viral effectiveness of coating-based products last for only few washes (about 30-50 gentle washes). Compared to these, Thermaissance technology’s effectiveness remains over 99.99% even after 60 laboratory washes (equivalent to over 141 gentle washes), making it a cost-effective solution for a longer period.”
“In addition, several players have tested the effectiveness of their technology against coronavirus using Modified ISO or other non-ISO approved standards. Whereas we have got our products tested against coronavirus using the Actual ISO approved standard (ISO 18184). The actual ISO approved standard mandates to bombard the fabrics with thousands of viruses at the same time to test fabric’s effectiveness against the viruses. There is a significant difference between being able to destroy few hundred viruses in few mins vs thousands of viruses in the same time.”
Thermaissance’s face masks and reusable PPE are being used by healthcare professionals across the globe, who, in turn, are also advocating Thermaissance’s face masks among their patients.
Thermaissance’s innovation has been recognized by NITI Aayog and International Forum on Advancements in Healthcare. Thermaissanace’s Covid killer products can be directly bought from their website.
