I recently wrote an article for Infection Control Today Magazine about healthcare-acquired infections (HAIs), and how they afflict more than 3 million people every year in the United States alone. It’s a huge problem, and even more concerning is the statistic that says eight in 100 hospital patients acquire life-threatening infections during their stay. HAIs directly cause about 100,000 deaths annually and that number is growing rapidly due to new antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria.

The problem is costly in terms of dollars as well. The estimated direct cost to the 6,000 registered hospitals for HAI treatment is more than $5 billion, and the total estimated cost to society is as much as $30 billion.

This trend is growing and will continue to impact the health care industry worldwide unless improper hand sanitation in hospitals is corrected. Forward-looking infection control experts all agree there are obstacles to hand sanitation and the need for new convenient, broad-spectrum and user-friendly hand sanitation techniques! Check out the article and browse the others on this great site while you are there.

Inventor Gene Gordon is soon to be the proud recipient of the 2008 Inventors Hall of Fame Award.

Gene is one of my clients, and I’m very excited to share this news! His company, Germgard Lighting, LLC, makes a product called GloveGard, a medical exam glove sterilization device that efficiently kills bacteria. It works by exposing a gloved hand to Ultraviolet C light to kill pathogens on the glove. In only three seconds, the gloves are sterilized with safety and speed. I’ve blogged about GloveGard here.

Gene has a doctorate in physics from the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and, as an inventor, 80 patents to his name. In 26 years at AT&T Bell Labs, he developed the laser technologies behind long-haul fiber optic communication, digital camera and video equipment, and a treatment that has restored sight for millions of diabetic retinopathy patients. Gene and his son Pete have plans to create a family of products to combat pathogens in medical and other settings.

Just as GloveGard can be used to protect hospital patients from C. diff, MRSA and other bacteria, other devices will be used to protect restaurant patrons from E. coli. Or cruise ship passengers from Norovirus, schoolchildren from Picornavirus and Coronavirus (the common cold), and office workers from biothreats such as anthrax. The U.S. Army Military Command already expressed interest in Germgard’s instrument sterilizer, another work in progress.

I believe Gene’s invention will revolutionize the health care industry by killing the most threatening bacteria. It takes almost no effort for a health care worker to insert his or her gloved hand into the GloveGard device. In three seconds, the gloves are sterilized. The virtues of the device are safety and speed.

An estimated 1.7 million Americans acquire infections in hospitals every year, and total of 99,000 Americans die from them annually, according to the national Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. Treatment for these infections costs $5.5 billion a year, according to the Association for Professionals in Infection Control & Epidemiology.

Gene’s recognition is for his practical semiconductor laser. The New Jersey Inventor’s Hall of Fame was established in 1987 to honor individuals and corporations in New Jersey for their invention contributions. Gene and the other awardees will be recognized October 23rd at the annual Thomas A. Edison Patent Awards Dinner and at Inventors Hall of Fame Luncheon.

I’m already cheering him on.

Remember my post last month about one of my inventor clients, Mick Gordon?  He is back in the news again, and I couldn’t be more pleased! Mick is a very prolific innovator–he is passionate about his inventions.

We’ve been helping him in the development of KlenzPod™ which recently won the inaugural Innovation Award at the annual World of Wipes (WOW 2008) Conference. Mick was honored for his innovative approach and elegant solution to the lack of efficient wet wipe disposal facilities on the market.

The KlenzPod system was developed for offices and public buildings to provide employees and customers easy access to single wet wipes. Mick’s invention was inspired by his experience with his dying father in a British hospital where he saw poor hygiene being practiced, and realized that medical staff really needed some easily-available wipes to keep their hands clean.

It has taken years of development. Mick refined the invention based on feedback from other experts and corporations, but numerous innovations have now come together to provide a really useful, economical, and aesthetically-pleasing solution that can be used almost anywhere.

Way to go, Mick!

Here’s a fantastic article on one of my clients! Innovationedge has been working with an inventors Gene Gordon and his son Peter Gordon of Germgard Lighting, LLC. They’ve invented a product called Glovegard, a medical exam glove sterilization device that efficiently kills bacteria. It works by exposing a gloved hand to Ultraviolet C light to kill pathogens on the glove. In only three seconds, the gloves are sterilized with safety and speed.

The idea came about in the fall of 2005 after Gene reflected back on an infection he had contracted during a hospital stay for a back operation. His ultimate goal was to prevent others from going through the ordeal he experienced, and I’m excited that he is achieving that dream.

Check out the video here.

I promised to update you on Innovationedge’s collaboration with Russia’s International Science and Technology Center (ISTC). As you know, we announced our partnership with InnovationPoint to work on a multi-year contract to help some of the most innovative minds in Russia –many of whom are former U.S.S.R. weapons scientists and engineers—to redirect their talents and bring new science and technology capabilities to the United States.

These scientists are highly skilled in biotechnology, agriculture, biomass, health care, nanotechnology and bioengineering. We formally launched our partnership with ISTC in Moscow last November, and have since had several opportunities to advance our mission. To date we have identified and set up meetings with key U.S. partners who could leverage the knowledge and capabilities of our Russian innovators. We’ve also developed marketing materials such as ISTC partnership brochures.

Last month, Innovationedge’s Jeff Lindsay, Director of Solution Development, traveled to Moscow for its Drug Design and Development Conference. The two-day international conference included reps from the World Health Organization, CDC, pharmaceutical companies and biotechnology businesses from Europe, the U.S. and Canada who shared their vision of novel therapeutics to combat emerging and re-emerging infectious diseases and cancer.

The symposium was an opportunity for us to get an overview of the biotech work of many Russian scientists. From the perspective of commercializing technologies, most of the technologies shown represented early stage exploratory work. When a biotech company has parallel interests and sees a fit with a particular chemistry being studied, it is a chance for licensing. Some of the capabilities, such as modeling of drug properties for improved activity, may have potential to find a variety of interested partners.

We are exploring specific projects and existing technologies in these areas so that we can make our efforts to find commercial partners. Some of these projects may already have enough data developed to create interest in drug companies that may wish to further explore and develop these exciting opportunities.