GHP Q3 2018

14 GHP / Q3 2018 , Bringing the New Science of Enzyme Indicators to Market Protak Scientific Limited is the world’s only vendor of Enzymatic Biological Indicators (EI’s) that are used as a rapid microbial method (RMM) of measuring the efficacy, distribution and performance of cold process decontaminations. Cold process gaseous decontaminations, typically vaporised hydrogen peroxide (VHP, HPV), ethylene oxide (EO) and other gases have been developed over the last forty years to offer decontamination of areas that cannot be readily sterilized within an autoclave, and the purpose of the decontamination is always to provide a quantifiable inactivation of an arduous microorganism. It could be a pharmaceutical production line housed within an isolator to ensure the safety of the product during manufacture, a vaccine filling line or in healthcare an operating theatre or radiopharmacy compounding isolator – basically critical environments where a known reduction of microorganisms is critical. The traditional way of validating these critical decontaminations relies upon a 19th century technique of placing a live (read viable) bacteria into the space to be decontaminated, performing the decontamination and then incubating the bacteria to see if you can make it grow! As you can no doubt already picture, this biological indicator (BI) process is; old fashioned, arduous, subjective and delivers at best a binary result. The process takes up to seven days to deliver incubated results and this antiquated process costs healthcare and pharmaceutical industries multi-billions of dollars per year. Due to the time it takes to get results, it potentially costs lives and negatively impacts society. The Protak EI is a 21st century advance into a digital process that takes just 60 seconds and digitally delivers information that transforms the validation of decontamination cycles. Using thermostable Enzymes that deliver a true biological challenge and pairing the enzyme with a bioluminescent assay, EI’s inactivation can be read simply and easily. Around the world pharmaceutical manufacturers and healthcare institutions are now seeing huge advances and great benefit from immediate decontamination validation from EI’s. As the founder and CEO of Protak Scientific, I am driven. From the first moment I became aware of this technology I knew it would change the world – I could immediately see the value and benefit, not just in financial terms but as a tool to improve process, regulatory satisfaction and ultimately, I could see how this technology vs the tool at the time made everyone’s lives that little bit easier and better. EI’s really are a symbol of technological advancement – taking an existing process and rebuilding it from the ground up to be better. It’s my relentless drive that I think powers our company; drive, enthusiasm and a vision helped to keep our company alive against some hurdles and challenges that seemed at the time insurmountable. Drive and vision are just some of the ingredients needed. In honesty, it is the team around me that have made my dreams a reality. We are more than work colleagues, everyone who interacts with Protak and see’s the technology in action have the same moment when they get it. They too have that smile a few seconds after the EI has delivered the decontamination results where you see them mentally rip up the rule book on decon validation and start to see the way forward in a new light. As for my management style? That’s a hard one to answer. Passion and commitment to my team is number one. I’m often thousands of miles away from people but they know I am available, maybe not immediately but always as soon as possible. Understanding and giving time and attention seems to be the secret to a successful business. I think everyone in the company and the partners we have around the world can all see that I am determined to deliver this technology and for people to advance. As humans, I think we all have desire to do things as well as possible. Starting a business and delivering a new, innovative and industry challenging technology into the pharmaceutical and healthcare sectors isn’t an easy process. Our technology was developed by Public Health England over fifteen years – our heritage could not be better. The scientists at PHE are some of the most intelligent and focussed individuals on the planet, they created the technology that we deliver today, however the process of taking a laboratory process to a finished market ready device; it costs more money than you think, takes longer to develop and then when you get to a point where you 1807GH01