Coronavirus: a great opportunity for innovation in biocides?

With the rapid, global spread of the SARS-CoV-2 coronavirus, the need for disinfectant biocidal products dramatically escalated over the course of days. From hand sanitizers to hard surface disinfectants, the increase in demand has rapidly led to a shortage of supply.

Regulations

Regulations are designed to protect humans, animals and the environment from any risks that a product may cause. However, regulations are also intended to facilitate solutions when biocidal products are necessary to control organisms that are harmful to human health.

Derogations

The text of the EU Biocidal Product Regulation (BPR) offers potential solutions for specific scenarios when conforming with the normal authorisation requirements is not possible. Derogations are covered under Article 55 of the Regulation and nearly every Member State has now made use of it. Article 55 allows a Competent Authority to authorise a biocidal product for a limited period of time because of a danger to public health, animal health or the environment which cannot be contained by other means. At the moment, most of the derogations are related to the use of already approved substances for which a BPR authorisation would be needed for a specific product.

This is a great start but what will happen if the supply of these substances is not enough to cover the demand?

New ideas

It is known that as tension increases, new creative ideas emerge. Here are examples that could potentially be covered by an Article 55 derogation:

• A substance not defended in the correct Product Type or not even in the Review Programme
• An innovative product that offers quick disinfection
• A well-known disinfectant marketed outside the EU that could be a great solution to fighting the coronavirus outbreak within the EU

Inspired? Have any burning ideas that could potentially help fight coronavirus? If you do, share them with us. TSG Consulting can help you with organising and monitoring efficacy studies, dossier preparation, or supporting an Article 55 derogation, enabling your product to enter the market quickly to protect public health.