Ag companies contribute to the fight against Covid-19

Perstorp: production of hand sanitiser

Perstorp has started the large-scale production of hand sanitiser and surface disinfectant for the Swedish healthcare sector. Perstorp has the capacity to produce more than 2 million litres per month. The production capacity is expected to exceed the healthcare sector’s current disinfection shortage. The products are being offered at cost price. Production has started this week and the aim is to continue for as long there is an acute shortage of disinfection products within the Swedish healthcare sector, that regular suppliers cannot fulfil.

Our large scale production capacity can make a real difference at this time and help to solve the disinfectant shortage in the healthcare sector.” – Jan Secher, CEO Perstorp Group.

Jan Secher, CEO of Perstorp Group, comments: “Extraordinary times call for extraordinary care. Our large scale production capacity can make a real difference at this time and help to solve the disinfectant shortage in the healthcare sector. This is our contribution to the important work that healthcare professionals are doing every day. I am proud that our innovative staff saw this opportunity to help. They have driven this initiative forward together with valuable help from authorities and partners.”

Permits and agreements for production have been finalised in record quick time together with authorities and partners. In order to produce the disinfectant, Absolut Company delivers ethanol, which is mixed together with other ingredients. This is delivered to the Perstorp industrial plant with help of Univar Solutions and ExxonMobil. The disinfectant is bottled by Lefab Production and transported by Bertschi, Scandibulk Eurolink to Socialstyrelsen, which distributes the products to healthcare services in regions across Sweden. The first delivery is expected to reach Socialstyrelsen after the Easter weekend.

Proteon: Tests for virus diagnosis 

Proteon Pharmaceuticals joined the effort to create a new SARS-CoV-2 Coronavirus Detection Center in Lodz, Poland to conduct large-scale tests for virus diagnosis. The new laboratory was created at a very fast pace with the involvement and cooperation of the Institute of Medical Biology of the Polish Academy of Sciences, the University of Lodz, the Medical University of Lodz. Goal is to conduct as many tests as possible in the shortest possible time.

Quick and mass diagnostics is currently the most important tool for stopping the growth of coronavirus infections.” – Prof Jarosław Dastych, CEO Proteon.

“Quick and mass diagnostics is currently the most important tool for stopping the growth of coronavirus infections. If it is possible to detect a virus infection faster and on a larger scale, the infected people will be isolated sooner and receive appropriate treatment. This will translate into a decline in infection dynamics,” says Prof. Jarosław Dastych, CEO of Proteon Pharmaceuticals S.A. “That is why we have made an immediate decision to involve our knowledge and experience in this project.”

A group of microbiologists, virologists and geneticists from Proteon, all volunteers with experience working on a daily basis using molecular methods with infectious materials, will directly participate in the work of the research team. The company also provided the laboratory with necessary equipment, laboratory materials and personal protective equipment. Proteon Pharmaceuticals’ specialists also carried out installation works providing additional security for laboratory employees.

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Hipra: giving over of laboratories

To help deal with the health crisis, Spanish-based Hipra has given over their new laboratories to hospitals for the analysis of samples and the manufacture of ventilators with 3D printers. The company has reached an agreement with the health authorities that will allow the principal hospitals in the province of Girona (Spain) to make use of a large part of the new facilities.

…it is our duty and an act of responsibility to make use of all the resources that we have at our disposal in order to help preserve public health in such exceptional times…” – Hipra.

In a press release the company states: “As an animal health company, it is our duty and an act of responsibility to make use of all the resources that we have at our disposal in order to help preserve public health in such exceptional times, hence the need to collaborate with hospitals by giving over our new diagnostic facilities that have just been built at our headquarters and that were on the point of being opened.”

The facilities contain the most up-to-date equipment and apparatus for PCR analysis. This type of real-time diagnosis allows hundreds of samples to be analysed in a few hours, backed up by the automation of the process. Furthermore, Hipra is also producing parts by 3D printing for the manufacture of medical ventilators which will also be supplied to hospitals in the region.