SPR Advanced Technologies announced that it has been awarded a grant by the US Agency for International Development (USAID) to test, refine and deploy its patented technology to assist USAID and its partner agencies, including the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, and the US Department of Defense, with an Ebola response solution to protect health care workers in affected countries from contamination by the Ebola virus.
SPR’s technology has been developed with support from two grants provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation over the course of the past four years.
SPR believes that its patented technology, which realigns the naturally occurring charges on treated surfaces to create an electrostatic field that kills most bacteria and viruses, has the potential to serve as an effective pre-treatment barrier technology to prevent surfaces, including personal protective equipment worn by health care workers, from contamination by the Ebola virus.
USAID is the United States federal government agency primarily responsible for administering civilian foreign aid. Although technically an independent federal agency, USAID operates subject to the foreign policy guidance of the President of the United States, Secretary of State, and the National Security Council.
USAID is leading the United States Government’s response to the Ebola epidemic in West Africa and, on this particular initiative, is partnering with the White House Office of Science and Technology Policy, the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention and the United States Department of Defense, among other U.S. agencies.
"We are honored by this award from USAID," said Jeffrey Horine, the Chief Executive Officer of SPR. "Our team is flattered that such a prestigious panel of experts recognizes that the technology platform developed by Dr. Henry Malak, our Chief Technology Officer, has the potential to enable United States health care workers to do their important work more effectively with the knowledge they are protected by SPR’s barrier technology."
In addition to the financial support provided by the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation, SPR has benefitted from relationships that it has established with trusted advisors including Holland & Knight, a global law firm with more than 1,000 lawyers and other professionals in 20 US offices including Boston and Washington D.C., and the National Emerging Infectious Diseases Laboratories (NEIDL), a National Biocontainment Laboratory affiliated with Boston University.