RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL – The Covid-19 pandemic spawned a series of products and services, creating new market niches for companies and startups with solutions aimed at fighting the coronavirus. Most do not believe that the vaccine against the disease will hinder business. They believe that consumers are more aware of the need for health care and will remain open to products that help in this protection.
The list of new products that have emerged over the past six months includes fabrics, paints, ultraviolet equipment, ventilation helmets and even garbage bags, all with antibacterial and antiviral materials or solutions to avoid contamination.
According to the president of Inter.B International Business Consulting, Claudio Frischtak, many of these products are part of the structural changes the country will undergo after this unprecedented experience. “Even with the vaccine, if these new products are competitive, with prices equal to or at most ten percent higher than those of similar products, they will be kept on the market.”
This is what Tiago Inacio Peixoto believes. He is a director of the Cataguases Industrial Company, from Minas Gerais, which, together with Dalila Textiles, from Santa Catarina, has developed and is producing fabrics with antiviral and antibacterial coatings.
“It is obvious that there will be a curve, but even in a world with a vaccine, I believe that people will be more sensitive and more open to functional clothing to protect themselves,” says Peixoto. “Also because, if we now have Covid-19, tomorrow we may coexist with other types of coronaviruses,” completes André Klein, Dalila’s president.
The sale of knitwear with Dalila protection began in April and currently represents 20 percent of its production, from 400 to 500 tons per month. At Cataguases, distribution began in August and should reach between ten and 15 percent of the monthly production of 1.5 million linear meters of flat fabrics. For the time being, tests guarantee protection for at least 50 washes, a period that should double after a new test. The product was tested by four laboratories, among them Santa Catarina Federal University (UFSC) and the University of Campinas (UNICAMP).
In stores and on the C&A website, a new collection of men, women and children’s t-shirts made with antiviral knitwear began to be sold two weeks ago. According to Mariana Moraes, C&A senior marketing manager, there are initially 20,000 items with prices that range from R$40 to R$50. She says that the goal is to extend the use of the fabric to other products.
At the Café Journal, in Moema, São Paulo, equipment similar to a microwave was installed three weeks ago near the entrance. It is the BOX UV-C, a box with ultraviolet light in which customers place cell phones, keys, bags and wallets to remove germs, bacteria, fungi and viruses.
The Café’s executive manager, Neuri Coletto, reports that all the product packages to be provided to customers by delivery also pass through the sterilization box.
The box was developed by Pop Up Live, a startup founded by event sector executives who saw their business crash in the pandemic. “The BOX is easy to handle and eliminates up to 99.99 percent of microorganisms,” says Ricardo Van Meenen, one of the partners. It costs R$4,100 and it is being used by condominiums besides bars and, according to the company, it meets the ANVISA (Brazilian Health Regulatory Agency) specifications.
Garbage bag gets UNICAMP stamp
Garbage bags made of a material capable of neutralizing viruses and bacteria are being sold in several supermarkets. Developed by Embalixo, producer of garbage packaging for 17 years, they are made of polymer composition and its efficacy has been attested by UNICAMP. To differentiate itself from the others, it is silver in color.
Trade director Rafael Costa says that Embalixo had other exclusive solutions, such as packaging made of plants with technology that captures the emission of carbon dioxide, with repellent, with odor neutralizer and “the first vegan bag in the world”. The company produces 800 tons of plastic bags per month and ten percent are from the antiviral line, a share that should reach 25 percent over the coming months, estimates Costa.
DeVant Care, specialized on automated biodesinfection solutions for the hospital area, is importing the Nocotec from France, a device used in clinics, offices, companies and other environments.
Ivam Cavalcante Pereira, the company’s director, says that a bottle with a hydrogen peroxide solution with silver is coupled to the device and sprays dry steam. DeVant sells, rents or lends the Nocotec, which is registered with ANVISA.
On the portable range, O2Led Illumination from Minas Gerais produces the SterBox, a device for decontamination of small spaces, focused on taxi cabs and App driven cars. It works with a USB output and sterilizes the whole environment, says Roberto Cardoso, president of O2Led. The SterBox costs R$398 and can be used at home. Its efficacy is approved by LS Analyses laboratory.
ChromaLíquido, another textile company, sells covers for seats and handles with an antiviral protection and includes Viação Osasco among its clients. According to Ricardo Bastos, director of Institutional Relations, the group has orders for 500 kits from public transportation companies.
In October, it will start selling car covers at auto parts stores and dealerships. The company has installed covers on seats at the Corinthians soccer stadium and is now working on uniforms for companies. It is also expecting to be called to offer its solution for subway cars in São Paulo. The fabrics use thread developed by Rhodia, which had its efficacy confirmed by an independent laboratory.
Helmet helps patients who need forced ventilation
In the area directly related to health, Roboris, a company from São Paulo specialized in robotics, has developed a ventilation helmet that can avoid the intubation of patients with respiratory difficulties. The idea of developing the Controlled Individual Breathing Bubble (BRIC) arose right at the start of the pandemic, when the company’s president, Guilherme Thiago de Souza, had contact with a group of engineers who were studying the development of mechanical ventilators.
Initially, the company tried to import similar equipment to adapt, but with the difficulties at that time, it began to develop its own, based on studies of what already existed internationally and in literature.
“We developed it together with exclusive polymers suppliers, we created our own manufacturing method so as not to have problems with existing patents, we built a prototype and we took it to doctors at the Clínicas Hospital to test and confirm it,” says Souza. The helmet is a transparent, individual and disposable bubble with breathing connections and precedes intubation, which is indicated in severe cases.
In addition to retaining oxygenation without the need for an ICU room, the BRIC serves as protection for the health team during the patient’s air transfer or even in the ambulance, for instance. Until the functional prototype stage was approved by ANVISA, Roboris invested R$400,000. As it is not in the medical and clinical equipment manufacturing area, it has partnered with another company in this field, Mikatos, for mass production. So far 500 units have been sold to more than 40 public and private hospitals in several states at the price of R$1,200 (plus taxes). The company has partnered with Abelha Táxi Aéreo e Aeromédico (Air Taxi and Ambulance service), from Cuiabá (MT), to use the device in its aircraft’s ICUs.
Paints
After introducing paints with antiviral compounds that act on surfaces in the market in August, Weg has recorded a 49 percent growth in sales over polyurethane paints without the compound. It is recommended for hospitals, furniture and hospital equipment, laboratories, offices and medical and dental equipment, home appliances, supermarkets, industries, subways, vehicles, etc.
Reinaldo Richter, the company’s director, says that varnishes for painting locks, stairway handrails and vehicle interiors have also been launched. “We will continue developing other virucidal paints, in a variety of application methods, which will be launched soon”, he reports.
The executive believes that the product will remain in the market even after the pandemic and will become a requirement in new architectural projects, particularly for high circulation areas. “Several builders are testing the product and including it on their vendor list.”
Source: O Estado de S. Paulo