There are many ways to get your hands clean. Nimbuderm is looking to change the way we keep our hands clean.
Soap or alcohol-based sanitizers will clean your hands, but as soon as you touch something else, your hands are immediately exposed to dirt, microbes and all sorts of things you wouldn’t want to see under a microscope. Nimbuderm, a persistent skin sanitizer, will give protection that lasts for up to eight hours. It is an anti-microbial polymer that forms a film on your skin, protecting for hours until rubbed or washed off your hands.
As any mother or school teacher could tell you, hands are the primary vector of bacterial transfer between people, objects and other people. While someone coughing on you is rare (except, perhaps for those mothers and teachers), we constantly pick up microbes by touching things.
Nimbuderm’s persistent sanitation is especially valuable in healthcare settings where people have a reduced capability to ward off pathogens. When applied, it sanitizes equally with alcohol-based products and then continues to neutralize bacteria until you wash it off. It has even been effective against resistant bacterial strains like MRSA and VRE.
By continuously interrupting the transfer of pathogens without requiring repeated hand sanitation, Nimbuderm will help increase the health and efficiency of healthcare staff. Additionally, many sanitizers that require repeated application dry the skin. So a sanitizer that requires a single application could provide greater comfort as well.
Nimbuderm is a product of Quick-Med Technologies, which makes a number of anti-microbial compounds for the health, cosmetic and textile industries.
Bernd Liesenfeld (also the chief scientist behind Cankicide) said that the development of Nimbuderm has slowed down while other products have been developed. He hopes the Cade Prize will allow the company to get the product and testing back on track so Quick-Med can get the sanitizer to places where it will have a positive effect.
To find out more about the Cade Prize, visit CadeMuseum.org and keep an eye on the blog for more on the Cade Prize Sweet 16.
