RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – Brazilian scientist Fernanda Checchinato has developed a bactericide soap that also protects against the novel coronavirus and remains active on the skin for hours. The startup founded by the chemical engineer, who completed part of her PhD in France, also produces and markets a spray to sanitize cloth masks.
The difference between the “super soap” and other antiseptic soaps on the market is the active ingredient chlorhexidine, explains Fernanda. The substance, widely known and used in hospitals, provides a residual action that enables antiviral and bactericide protection to last longer.
“What I did was develop a soap formula that would not attack the skin, that would effectively cleanse the dirt from the body, because this is the purpose of a soap, that had a pleasant scent and that was bactericidal. So, to provide the asepsis effect, I added chlorhexidine,” she explains. According to her, this is the first personal hygiene product in the world that uses the compound.
“This means that if you shower with this soap or wash your hands, it kills viruses and bacteria immediately. But if an hour later you touch a contaminated door handle, you won’t get infected, because it remains in the epidermis and it keeps working, killing bacteria or viruses for up to six hours”, she adds.
The soap also features a green coloring that enables viewing areas of the skin that have not been adequately washed.
Chlorhexidine is widely used in hospitals and dentists’ offices to sanitize the skin before surgeries.
Fernanda is the CEO and founder of high technology startup Aya Tech, which develops and markets the product. The liquid soap named Gy, for the nickname of Fernanda’s daughter Giovana, also contains in its formula essential oils such as mint and melaleuca – a tree very common in Australia, which has antibiotic, bactericidal and fungicidal properties.
Fabric sanitization
Another product developed by Fernanda’s startup is an aerosol that can be applied to sanitize cloth masks, used as protection against Covid-19. The Microbac spray, designed primarily to prevent the development of fungi and bacteria on fabrics and to help people suffering from allergies, has also proved useful against the coronavirus.
“When applied to clothing, particularly masks, even if people come into contact with bacteria and viruses, the fabrics will not be contaminated,” explains the scientist. “Because it contains a chemical substance that produces a layer of millions of disinfectant nanoparticles. When the microorganisms come into contact with the fabric, they die, they become inactive,” she explains. According to her, the spray eliminates 99 percent of bacteria and viruses and the protection can last up to two months if the item is not washed.
In addition to soap and fabric disinfectant, the startup developed an alcohol-free antiseptic gel and spray with the same active ingredients as the Gy. They were developed last year for people with sensitive skin, such as children and the elderly, to prevent the H1N1 and influenza viruses which cause the flu. “It’s the first line of alcohol-free antiseptics in the world,” explains the scientist who was granted authorization by the ANVISA (National Health Regulatory Agency) to market the products in February, just when the first cases of Covid-19 emerged in Brazil. “It was a coincidence,” she says.
The “super soap”, on the other hand, was developed considering Sars-Cov-2. “People were saying, ‘we shower, we go out on the street and when we come back we have to shower again’. So I started working and thinking about it in April and it’s now ready,” Fernanda says of the product that began to be sold last week.
Entrepreneurial scientist
Aya-tech was the first Brazilian company to be selected to take part in a startups acceleration program in 2018 promoted by the Greater Paris Development and Innovation Agency, Paris Co, which works with 500 French and foreign companies every year.
The program ran for a month, but Fernanda’s journey with France began earlier. A graduate in chemical engineering from the Federal University of Santa Catarina, she completed part of her PhD at the University of Lyon’s Center for Chemistry, Physics and Electronics (CPE), which is part of France’s National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS). At the time, she was developing studies on bactericide plastics for foodstuffs.
When Fernanda returned to Brazil, for lack of an option for post-doctoral fellowships and without a prospect of starting a professorship at the university, she started working as a researcher in a metallurgical company that made household appliances and fishing baits.
“But it was a chauvinist company, I was the only woman in charge of the sector and I suffered horrors with boycotts. Then I decided to resign and set up Aya”, says the enterprising scientist. “At the time, the startup concept didn’t even exist. But I did it all very carefully and it worked.”
Fernanda says she has no investors or partners, and that she develops the products with her own capital. According to her, this is why the release process takes longer. “We need one of our products to sell to generate the capital to develop a new product. We progress with little steps, but we don’t have any debts either. We are growing organically,” she adds, without concealing her desire to internationalize her production.
Source: G1