NextBillion - An Initiative of the William Davidson Institute at the University of Michigan

Tuesday, October 13, 2015

Xenex Disinfection Services, a San Antonio-based developer of robotic devices used to disinfect hospital facilities and eradicate often deadly health care infections, is expanding its product reach internationally. Xenex has struck a deal with Serenus Biotherapeutics, which is introducing the local biotech company’s pulsed xenon, ultraviolet room disinfection system to a number of African nations, including Botswana, Namibia and South Africa.

Health Care Associated infections or HAIs are common in developing nations, resulting in prolonged hospital stays for non-critically ill patients. In addition, excess mortality in critically ill adults affected by ventilator-associated pneumonia is reported to be as high as 27.5 percent in developing countries, where HAIs are also responsible for a large percentage of deaths among hospital-born babies — especially in Southeast Asia and Sub-Saharan Africa, according to the World Health Organization.

Xenex’s Germ-Zapping Robot device is already in use in more than 300 health care facilities across the U.S., Canada and Europe. Company officials said in a five-minute disinfection cycle, Xenex robots destroy contagious superbugs on surfaces through the use of high intensity pulsed xenon UV light.

Serenus CEO Menghis Bairu said the company has an opportunity now, through its deal with Xenex, “to make a substantial impact on the quality of health care in Africa.”