Technopath’s Pioneering Technology for the Treatment of COVID-19 Infected Medical Waste Is Fast-tracked for Immediate Use at New York’s Largest Health Care Provider

NEW YORK and BALLINA, Ireland, March 30, 2020 /PRNewswire/ — Technopath Clinical Diagnostics today announced that Northwell Health, New York State’s largest healthcare provider with 23 hospitals and nearly 800 outpatient facilities, is minimizing the risk of spreading COVID-19 by adopting Technopath’s technology platform that safely neutralizes infectious medical waste. Northwell is the first health system worldwide to implement Technopath’s pioneering technology.

“According to a recent study by the National Institutes of Health, coronavirus survives on plastic and stainless steel surfaces for up to three days^[1]. As Northwell Health significantly ramps up COVID-19 testing to over 1,600 samples daily, there is an urgent need to quickly and reliably minimize the risk of spreading disease from infected medical waste,” said Malcolm Bell, CEO and founder of Technopath. “Partnering with Northwell to provide the most advanced, environmentally friendly, and cost-effective technology for the treatment of medical waste infected with coronavirus is allowing us to respond to what the World Health Organization has characterized as a global pandemic.”

Developed by Irish-based Technopath Clinical Diagnostics, the Envetec 200 system simultaneously shreds and disinfects infectious medical waste using a patented destruction and disinfection process that kills COVID-19 viruses along with all bacteria, spores and other pathogens that pose a danger to human health. The technology requires no heat in the process, and no dangerous chemicals emanate from the system at the end of each 20-minute treatment cycle. The resulting confetti-like solid residue is categorized as regular trash, entirely safe to handle, and can be used in a number of waste to energy and other recycling applications.

“For the past several weeks, Northwell has continued to take on the health and safety challenges posed by COVID-19,” said Michael Dowling, Northwell president and CEO. “This new technology allows us to remove the unknown risk exposure when disposing of medical waste while avoiding the need for the costly and carbon-inefficient transportation and disposal by third-party handlers. It’s a positive light during a unique time.”

One of the unknown risk exposures to public health safety from COVID-19 is the treatment and disposal of infectious medical waste. Traditional disposal methods that are widely employed include road-hauling untreated infectious waste from labs and other health care facilities to treatment sites followed by environmentally detrimental thermal treatment and landfilling. 

Implementing the Envetec 200 technology comes as Northwell continues to ramp up COVID-19 testing. Northwell Labs is one of 89 public health laboratories in the US testing for the novel coronavirus and recently advanced to fully automated testing capabilities, which allows the health system to test more than 1,600 potential COVID-19 samples daily. 

“The Envetec 200 technology exemplifies Northwell’s dedication and constant search for the very latest and innovative technologies available in healthcare,” said Dwayne Breining, MD, executive director of Northwell Labs. “We have carefully evaluated our options to eliminate any potential risks associated with the new large-scale testing for COVID-19 being performed at Northwell Labs.”

Dr. Breining continued, “We are extremely confident that the Envetec system provides us with the best-in-class technology solution for treating hazardous health care waste at source and also eliminates any unknown risk of infection to the wider community.”

Technopath is making strategic investments in manufacturing capacity, commercial operations and employment as markets expand globally for the treatment of infectious medical waste material.

Northwell Labs installed the Envetec 200 technology in late 2019 and has been awaiting regulatory approval, which was fast-tracked on March 13 when New York Gov. Andrew Cuomo signed an executive order to allow a series of special emergency-measures. Governor Cuomo’s executive order accelerated the formal approvals from the US EPA and the New York State Department of Health that had been pending, enabling Northwell to complete the system validation and put the technology to use.

About Technopath Clinical Diagnostics

Technopath Clinical Diagnostics is a global leader in the development and manufacture of total quality control (QC) solutions for clinical laboratories. In 2008, we launched the In-Vitro Diagnostic industry’s first truly consolidated Immunochemistry quality control materials. Consolidating multiple tests into one QC product enables clinical laboratories to significantly improve the efficiency and cost effectiveness of QC processes. Our IAMQC® software platform automates the handling and management of QC data, while facilitating laboratory accreditation requirements. Today, our products are used by 15,000 leading laboratories in over 130 countries. For more information on Technopath, visit www.technopathcd.com.

After many years in the diagnostic industry we identified both an environmental and public health requirement for the safe and efficient treatment of regulated medical waste at source. Our engineers have spent many years developing the Envetec technology and we are now bringing the Envetec 200 System to market after extensive validation and testing. For further information please visit us at www.technopathcd.com and www.envetec.com.

About Northwell Health

Northwell Health is New York State’s largest health care provider and private employer, with 23 hospitals, nearly 800 outpatient facilities and more than 14,200 credentialed physicians. We care for over two million people annually in the New York metro area and beyond, thanks to philanthropic support from our communities. Our 72,000 employees — 17,000-plus nurses and 4,500 employed doctors, including members of Northwell Health Physician Partners — are working to change health care for the better. We’re making breakthroughs in medicine at the Feinstein Institutes for Medical Research. We’re training the next generation of medical professionals at the visionary Donald and Barbara Zucker School of Medicine at Hofstra/Northwell and the Hofstra Northwell School of Graduate Nursing and Physician Assistant Studies. For information on our more than 100 medical specialties, visit Northwell.edu and follow us @NorthwellHealth on Facebook, Twitter, Instagram and LinkedIn.

References

1. N van Doremalen, et al. Aerosol and surface stability of HCoV-19 (SARS-CoV-2) compared to SARS-CoV-1. The New England Journal of Medicine. DOI: 10.1056/NEJMc2004973 (2020).

Contacts:

Brian Byrne 
VP of Operations, Environmental Technologies at Technopath 
+353-61-525700
+353-86-812-4439 
brian.byrne@technopathcd.com

For International Media:
Sunny Uberoi
Corporate Communications
Telephone: +1-917-747-2018
Email: sunny@166media.com

For Irish Media:
Eugene Hogan
+353-87-2497290

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SOURCE Technopath Clinical Diagnostics