Shaun Rothwell is Chairman and CEO of EVOQ Nano, a company focused on developing antimicrobial technology to combat healthcare-associated infections. EVOQ nanotechnology involves a unique non-ionic silver nanoparticle that can effectively kill even the most dangerous drug-resistant bacteria. These nanoparticles can be incorporated into medical devices to prevent bacteria from colonizing and causing infections. The bacteria can not form resistance to the nanoparticles, making hospitals safer for patients and healthcare workers.

Shaun explains, "We're surrounded by bacteria all day, every day. When compromised, when we're compromised from an immune perspective, those infections take hold and cause some serious damage in addition to acquired healthcare-associated infections. We understand that paying attention to the issues of the healthcare system today also involves antimicrobial resistance. These bugs are hiding and present everywhere around us. The antibiotic solutions available today are becoming less and less effective over time because these bugs are developing resistance against them. So we have a two-pronged approach to addressing this around AMR, antimicrobial resistance, and impacting healthcare-associated infections.

"At EVOQ Nano, we have created and patented very unique nanoparticles. We can make these nanoparticles out of a variety of different platforms, but we're focused on silver right now. One of our challenges when we first introduced it was that silver was commonly known to emit ions. And the reason that it's effective against bacteria is because of that ion emission. And those ions lyse the cell wall and destroy the bacteria even with these silver chlorides. They've been heavily used with coatings and different applications on catheters and different devices. The same reason it's had some effect is also why it's dangerous and toxic at high levels with this ion emission."

"The EVQ 218 asset that we have is perfectly spherical, non-ionic silver, a completely new form of silver that has never been created before. And we've been successful in creating this. We have been able to go through a variety of studies at the Seattle Children's Institute with the Cystic Fibrosis Foundation's help to prove efficacy. When we were first tested, we were successful in killing 64 isolates from the six most dangerous drug-resistant bacteria known to man, as recognized by the World Health Organization."

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