"Knoxville Plasma Company Achieves Medical Breakthrough"
KNOXVILLE, TN - (MARKET WIRE) - Sep 26, 2007 - Today Atmospheric Glow Technologies, Inc. (AGT) (OTCBB: AGWT) announced a breakthrough with the use of its proprietary atmospheric plasma technology to sterilize medical instruments and devices.
"When fully developed and commercially available, this product could assist with humanitarian efforts during natural disasters, aid in homeland security responses and address medical needs in remote regions of the world," anticipates Scott McDonald, AGT CEO.
AGT has recently demonstrated that its patented technology can sterilize contaminated medical instruments in the presence of simulated tissue debris. Challenging the atmospheric plasma sterilizer with this type of organic load replicates a "worst case scenario" in which a pre-treatment cleaning process did not remove all surgical debris.
"Being able to destroy all known microorganisms in the presence of organic debris in simulated-use tests is the goal of any sterilization process," said Dr. Kimberly Kelly-Wintenberg, AGT President. "By achieving this milestone, we believe AGT is a big step closer to initiating the 510 (k) submission process to seek FDA approval for our plasma sterilizer."
AGT's near-term goal is to deliver to the military a portable medical sterilizer demonstration unit for testing next August. This effort is funded through a Department of Defense U.S. Army Medical Research Acquisition Activity (USAMRAA) grant to AGT through a Congressional appropriation of $1.65M, which is payable to AGT over an eighteen-month period that began in March 2007.
To meet the needs of far-forward field medics, AGT is working to develop a lightweight, durable, and lower power apparatus with short cycle times and minimal consumables. Upon completion, the company's plasma prototype should be able to sterilize surgical instruments and devices in less than one hour with 200-300 W plasma power in a 2 ft^3 chamber.
"This unit would be the basis for both larger and smaller sterilizers since the technology is engineered to be easily scalable," according to Alan Wintenberg Ph.D., AGT Director of Engineering.
Hinged and serrated surgical instruments, including those wrapped in linen and cellulose-based material, were contaminated with high numbers of bacterial endospores and organic debris and then sterilized by AGT's prototype unit in cycle times less than 60 minutes in length. Unlike many other sterilization technologies, AGT's atmospheric plasma technology does not use dangerous chemicals, radiation or high temperatures or pressure and produces a unique blend of reactive chemicals that neutralize all known classes of microorganisms without damage to a variety of surrounding materials.
About USAMRAA
USAMRAA is the contracting element of the U.S. Army Medical Research and Materiel Command (USAMRMC) and provides support to the Command headquarters and its worldwide network of laboratories and medical logistics organizations. USAMRAA also supports the Fort Detrick Garrison and its military tenant activities, Army-wide projects sponsored by the Army Surgeon General, and numerous Congressionally mandated programs.