Briotech Tackles Deadly Prions

NIH Scientists and collaborators report that Briotech Inc.'s proprietary HOCl formulation rapidly inactivates resistant infectious proteins, known as prions, that cause Mad Cow, Chronic Wasting, and Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease, and are now implicated in Alzheimer's and other chronic brain diseases. 

PR Newswire
September 29, 2016

Scientific Breakthrough on Briotech's Safe Disinfection Tackles Deadly Prions 
"Briotech Inc. today announced that a study published in the current issue of PLOS Pathogens  proves that Briotech's unique formulation of pure hypochlorous acid (HOCl) inactivates infectious proteins, known as prions, that cause chronic brain diseases in humans and animals.

Investigators at the US National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) Rocky Mountain Laboratories, made the discovery in collaboration with researchers at the University of Washington (UW) Bothell, UW Seattle, the University of Verona (Italy), and Briotech Inc. Their findings demonstrate that Briotech's patent-pending solution (BrioHOCl™) quickly and safely destroys prions, the most resistant infectious agents known to medical science.

HOCl is made naturally in human white blood cells as a key part of the body's internal defense system. It works as the first line of defense at wound sites to fight infection. Briotech's proprietary Electro-Chemical Activation (ECA) technology enables large-scale production of this powerful natural compound for use in consumer and professional healthcare settings.

"We've been able to synthesize the same pure substance that the body creates to defend itself as a new weapon in the fight against infectious disease, and it's a game changer for human health," said Dan Terry, founder, and CEO of Briotech. "With broad adoption of BrioHOCl™, we can help stop the spread of many infectious diseases, even those caused by the most highly resistant agents ever discovered---prions--- and use the product to save lives and improve the health of entire communities around the world. We're excited to have this research published in PLOS Pathogens, and look forward to our continued collaboration with the NIH on the effects of BrioHOCl™ on emerging infectious pathogens that threaten global health and safety."

Destroying Prions
Prions are abnormal, misfolded body proteins that go out of control and begin to multiply themselves, spreading throughout the body and invading the brain.  Prions are most commonly transmitted orally, but can also contaminate medical and surgical instruments, transplanted tissues, and equipment used in food processing.   A new, fast, convenient and safe method for decontamination of medical instruments, surfaces, and tissues – by simple immersion in an aqueous solution of Briotech's pure BrioHOCl™ ---can overcome a critically important deficiency in infection control today. It can mitigate risks, and limit liabilities related to healthcare procedures and hospital acquired diseases.

Prion diseases are most widely known as the cause of Mad Cow Disease (BSE). Prions also cause Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD) in humans, a fatal dementia with a long incubation period. Recently, research has shown that most other chronic degenerative diseases that lead to dementia, including Alzheimer's, result from prions. Currently untreatable, and inevitably fatal, controversy swirls around their possible transmissibility as referenced in Nature.

Prions are uniquely resistant to the disinfection and sterilization procedures in common use in healthcare practice today. Extreme measures are needed. Current prion decontamination protocols are hazardous to people, damaging to instruments and surfaces, and therefore impractical for transmission control. 

"Briotech has developed an enabling technology, one that offers for the first time a practical and safe way of destroying infectious prions, the disease agents at the very top of the food chain when it comes to resistance to disinfection measures," said Jeff Williams, Ph.D., B.V.Sc., Chief Scientific Officer at Briotech. "We believe we've just exposed the tip of the iceberg when it comes to revealing the full potential of the pure HOCl in controlling and preventing many transmissible diseases. That's so important today when rampant antibiotic resistance is challenging established approaches to infectious disease management all over the world. The discovery reported in PLOS Pathogens has opened new avenues for researchers to explore in understanding the relationship between the HOCl made in the brain, its possible involvement in prion inactivation there, and the disease processes that lead to dementia.  Understanding those processes is one of the most urgent priorities facing biomedical science at this time."

How it Works
BrioHOCl™ is easy to handle, safe for both users and treated surfaces and is environmentally safe. Pure HOCl,  used in the PLOS Pathogens report, is reliably stable in its formulation and powerfully effective against a wide range of conventional microbial disease agents. The solution can be applied directly to skin and mucous membranes, hard surfaces, instruments, or safely aerosolized to decontaminate entire rooms.

Briotech manufactures BrioHOCl™ in fully-automated production platforms inside 20' shipping containers, enabling production and distribution of a consistent and pure form of HOCl virtually anywhere in the world.

About Briotech Incorporated
Based in Woodinville, WA, the company was founded in 2013 to commercialize the production of pure HOCl, a powerful, safe, naturally occurring substance, effective against the whole range of infectious disease pathogens of humans and animals, and to make it readily available throughout the world.  Briotech's introduction of transportable, self-contained manufacturing systems makes high volume production of consistent and reliable HOCl solutions possible for the first time ever. Its proprietary electrolysis technology creates unique formulations of stable HOCl for a wide range of applications in consumer, medical, agricultural and industrial settings. More information is available at www.briotechusa.com.

About the Research Study
The research study titled "Inactivation of Prions and Amyloid seeds with Hypochlorous Acid" appears in the current issue of PLOS Pathogens here. BrioHOCl™  treatment led to  a high level of inactivation after short exposure times for transmissible prions of CJD, BSE, and CWD, but also for self-replicating proteins found in Alzheimer's, Parkinson's and other dementias. Infectivity of BrioHOCl™-treated scrapie prions in mice was also highly significantly reduced."