SYDNEY, N.S. — When the pandemic hit the pause button on an emerging and lucrative aspect of its business, Mabou-based Halifax Biomedical Inc. turned its attention to public service.
Specifically, the Cape Breton biomedical research and development company scoured the world for much sought after high-quality N95 respirators for distribution to medical professionals around the country.
The exhaustive search was meant to bring in only masks of the upmost quality and ended recently when container loads of masks from Taiwan’s Motex Healthcare Corp. were secured.
“It was an important milestone and we are very happy to have achieved that, especially now that the (COVID-19) numbers are increasing in Nova Scotia,” said Chad Munro, CEO of Halifax Biomedical Inc.
“This is a critical supply that is hard to obtain, so we are quite happy with that.”
An inventory of 55,000 masks is already in Cape Breton and 45,000 more are en route from Montreal. The Motex masks were first tested by the Health and Environments Research Centre Laboratory at Dalhousie University in Halifax before any distribution plans were formulated.
“We tested the Motex mask samples we received from Halifax Biomedical using a complex measurement system comprising a series of advanced laboratory instruments,” said Dr. Jong Sung Kim, director of the HERC lab. “This testing system exceeds the validation requirements for the N95 standard. In all cases, the Motex mask samples that HERC tested exceeded the N95 standard.”
As a medical device company, getting a safe and effective product up to their standards was important, said Munro.
“That was the difficult part, just getting safe and effective masks,” he said. “But just getting any masks at any price is really challenging. If you are a hospital it is hard enough, but if you are a dentist or someone who is in close contact with patients it is really hard to get any supplies at all.”
The mask distribution is a "public service," according to Munro, that began in March when the launch of an imaging product jointly developed with GE Healthcare was delayed. Orthopedics and imaging remain at the core of the business, despite cancellations and postponements of elective surgeries in recent months.
“GE has about 4,000 installed X-ray systems in the world and half of those are in the U.S.” he said.
“Our product is an add-on that we go in and make a regular X-ray machine like a standing CT machine. We take the existing X-ray machine and you bolt on our piece of hardware and it becomes a 3D standing imaging in that specific medical market, there are several add-on type systems available for similar upgrades, priced at about $1 million.
“Our upgrade to the existing GE system is around $300,000 so it is much more cost-effective but it is also a good margin for us,” he said.
“It doesn’t change how they use the room. It is not a specialized system like our competitors, it is just an add-on and they use the room like they normally do. It doesn’t change a lot and we think that’s the most important aspect, especially in the U.S. market, to seamlessly integrate and not affect the workflow of the room.”
The partnership with GE Healthcare was formed two and a half years ago to develop the add-on product. Regulatory approval for it was obtained last year and a validation phase is now underway.
Despite pandemic associated delays, Munro is optimistic about the partnership and the prospects and sales it will bring over the next three to four years, primarily in the United States.
Currently, Halifax Biomedical Inc. has a staff of six full-time employees and one contract staff member who are primarily working remotely from home during the pandemic. The company also has facilities in Mabou and Baddeck.
Greg McNeil is the business reporter at the Cape Breton Post.
