Saskatoon-based nutrition company Bioriginal has taken on a new project in response to COVID-19.
“We know chemistry, we know how to package, so we thought there’s a gap that we can fill and help our local community out,” Bioriginal CEO Joe Vidal said.
Working alongside the University of Saskatchewan (USask), Bioriginal has spent the past three weeks formulating and producing sanitizers called BioTide.
“It’s not the role of the university to be a long-term manufacturer, but we’re happy to help out in this emergency,” College of Agriculture and Bioresources associate dean of research Angela Bedard-Haughn said in a press release.
“Without our help, the companies wouldn’t have been able to manufacture this product until May or June.”
A few orders have already been shipped to the health region for less than market price. Vidal expects to sell BioTide at market value to the public soon.
He said companies from across Canada and America have already shown interest.
“We’re just working with some retailers right now getting placement and those sorts of things but I would expect within two weeks you’ll see it on retail shelves,” Vidal said.
A liquid surface sanitizer and hand sanitizer have been produced, and Vidal hopes to have a gel hand sanitizer produced in a few weeks.