Article Excerpt:
TWST: What is Emergency Filtration Products?Mr. Beplate: Emergency Filtration Products was initially formed to bring emergency rescue technology, a CPR device, to first responders. Over time, the company expanded its offerings to wound care and other protective products to reduce the risk of contamination to the healthcare provider and to the recipient.
TWST: What is the overall market, its dynamics and what makes it a good
business area?
Mr. Beplate: We are in a niche area. Originally, we started with a
product designed to assist people performing CPR. It was a barrier
device known as Respaide. Unfortunately, in America, the general
population isn't required to know how to administer CPR, but in places
like Germany, you are required to know first aid and CPR to qualify for
a driver's license. So our market is really international. Respaide is a
product that is used to assist somebody at the scene of an accident or
someone who's experiencing cardiac or respiratory arrest. The
marketplace for that particular product is large. As we broadened our
product offerings, we targeted a number of different markets. We found
that we had a specific market in the US military, and we incorporated
some special features to have in a kit for medics to use during wartime.
Then we developed a facemask that not only utilized our proprietary 2H
filter technology ' which screens out 99.99% of particulate at 0.027
microns ' but also employed nanoparticles that would act as a biocide
against a host of contaminants. We originally introduced our Nanomask
facemask during the SARS crisis in 2003, but by the time we perfected
manufacturing processes, SARs faded as a serious threat. So we continued
to develop the Nanomask, making a number of improvements and we now have
a product that people look at as a protective device or barrier for
people concerned with contamination from Avian Flu. That seems to be the
niche right now and it's a rapidly growing market. We have an exclusive
license to use nanoparticles to coat the filters that address bacterial
and viral concerns and are the only facemask manufacturer with this
capability. However, at this point in time, we have not tested against
the Avian Flu since we have been unable to locate a laboratory in the
United States that has access to the virus. We are, however, testing our
nanoparticles against H9N2, which is the surrogate virus for H5N1.
Tickers included in this excerpt: EMFP
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