Oscor

Timothy Searfoss

At the beginning of the COVID-19 breakout in China, I sent an email to an engineer in the medical device industry where I told him that the very effective means to deactivate the virus and many other pathogens was the use of ultraviolet C light. The effective wavelength to deactivate the virus in a matter of seconds is 265nm UVC and Far-UVC 207-222nm with a dosage of 2 mJ/cm2. Far UVC efficiently inactivates airborne aerosolized viruses. I never got a response to my email, and to this day, I do not know his status, but I was delighted to see that China implemented in mass the sterilization of their subways, busses, hospitals, and many other areas utilizing UVC emission to deactivate the virus and many other pathogens.

"I built several samples, and we went to a pig lung tissue study where we exposed the lung tissue to the UVC light with the proper illuminance and then sent the tissue for analysis to determine the level of damage to the lung tissue"

A few days later, here at Oscor Inc. Palm Harbor, FL., I was asked to participate in a conference call with Dr. Chandra Shaker. He stated the question: Can you design and build a handheld device that can safely deliver UVC 265nm light emission into the bronchia and lungs via the nostrils? This started my activity to make this a reality. Dr Chandra Shaker provided information to a vendor that was manufacturing a small UVC 265nm chip. With the full support of our then owner Thomas Osypka, I proceeded to purchase some of these UVC chips po, were them up, and measured the wavelength, spectrum, and irradiance of the device. The UVC chip had plenty of power to deliver the needed dosage for complete, speedy virus deactivation. I then proceeded to 3D CAD SolidWorks model the entire device, design the electronic control circuit, and proceed to manufacture the injection molds and extrusions that were needed to produce this device. The support of the UVC chip, the soldering of leads to the chip, and the removal of the heat from the chip were all challenges. After a lot of work and testing, I determined the maximum output that I could provide and still stay under the temperature limits from the FDA.

I built several samples, and we went to a pig lung tissue study where we exposed the lung tissue to the UVC light with the proper illuminance and then sent the tissue for analysis to determine the level of damage to the lung tissue. The great news was that it was a blind study; the laboratory did not have any idea what we had done to the lung tissue. The laboratory could not find any damage to the lung tissue at all.

The Oscor engineering team proceeded with all the design history file documentation and filed with the FDA for emergency approval. They denied us and stated that we needed to do human trials before their approval. Oscor Inc. decided that the cost of the human trials was more than they could invest, and the project was put on hold.

During this time, I had six friends die from the Covid-19 virus. My wife was hospitalized for a week and was very ill. I held in my hand the cure and solution to all those fighting for their lives but was unable to bring it out to be approved for use in the US market.