Products for detection and decontamination of cytotoxic agents

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Cytotoxic drugs are prepared and administered on a daily basis in Canadian hospitals, primarily for the treatment of various cancer types. According to the latest figures reported by the British Columbia Cancer Agency, there were 31,515 chemotherapy visits in 2007/2008. Although the therapeutic benefits of these drugs are indisputable, these drugs indiscriminately kill cells; many are inherently mutagenic and/or carcinogenic due to their mechanism of action as DNA alkylating agents. As such, chronic workplace exposure to these drugs is a major problem in the health industry. A significant factor is that common cleaning agents whose purpose is to decontaminate surfaces are ineffective at best and may actually exacerbate the problem, either by spreading the drugs to other surfaces or by decomposing the drugs into more toxic agents. Nanozen (a local company with whom we collaborate) has developed a simple, cost effective proprietary solution that removes >99.99% of tested drug residues from contaminated surfaces. The solutions effectively solubilizes contaminants, allowing them to be absorbed onto a "wipe" media that can be safely disposed. An additional critical need in hospitals is the ability to detect airborne and surface cytotoxic drugs to ensure their proper and complete removal from the workplace. Unfortunately, to date, no standard protocol has been developed measure the amount of exposure for health care workers. Through the NSERC Engage program, we have developed sensors for the detection of alkylating agents in collaboration with Nanozen. The goal of this market assessment is to determine which of the previous described options would be most desirable to hospital administrators and government regulators: (1) cleaning solution alone, (2) pre-formed wipes containing the cleaning solution (similar in principle to baby wipes), (3) wipes containing both the cleaning solution and sensor, (4) other formulations of the sensor (e.g., badge, device for detection of airborne particulates), (5) development of spill kits.