SpectrumX is harnessing the huge potential of hypochlorous acid, the body's way of destroying bacteria and viruses

Before assessing the prospects for SpectrumX Holdings Ltd, including the upcoming IPO, it’s worth starting with a quick science lesson. That’s because the company’s future is staked on a chemical compound known as hypochlorous acid or HOCl for short. HOCl is basically a weak acid produced by our bodies that destroys unwanted bacteria and viruses. Its prevalence makes it unpatentable. This has been a moot point anyway as it has proved incredibly difficult to create a reliable HOCl product –  particularly one that can withstand everyday contaminants such as blood, saliva and dirt. Conundrum cracked However, Hoji Alimi, founder, chairman and chief executive officer (CEO) of Collidion Inc and its subsidiary, Spectrum Antimicrobials, has cracked this particular conundrum. And in finding a way to stabilise and store HOCl, he has come up with a world-first – a solution that uses the body’s chemical defence system that can be patented. The formulation mimics how the body makes HOCl, which ultimately provides its resilience and bacteria-fighting power. The patentable element is the unique additional chemistry that creates what is essentially a shield around the compound.  The commercial ramifications of this breakthrough are huge. There are the obvious benefits of being able to develop a long-life, stable product that isn’t rendered quickly ineffective by common elements in the environment or body.  It should be pointed out that patent protection gifts years of exclusivity to its owner, or the licensee of the intellectual property (IP) Commercially, that monopoly status allows the owner to charge a premium for any products derived. This is the high-margin, big pharma business model in action. A deeper dive  The problem with the Pfizers, AZs and GSKs of this world isn’t with the model, but discovering the patent protectable IP in the first place. Science lesson and business lecture over, let’s take a closer look at SpectrumX. The business holds licences from American scientist-turned-entrepreneur Alimi’s Spectrum Antimicrobials. These allow it to commercialise adaptations of the technology. Practically, this means it is developing a novel inhalation therapy for infections including COVID-19.  It has also created a hand sanitiser that is 300-times stronger than bleach but is safe for use on skin. Of particular interest is the phase II clinical trial of the SPC-069 respiratory treatment being planned by professors in Austria in patients with COVID-19. 'Excellent improvements'  The 240 participants will be put on a 10-day course of the treatment, which means the top-line results from the study should be available reasonably quickly – perhaps six weeks from the start of the evaluation, says Damien Hancox, the chief executive of SpectrumX. “Anecdotally, we have seen excellent improvements in 72 hours,” he adds. With this last fact in mind, Hancox and his team are making a submission to the newly formed UK Antiviral Taskforce, which has been set up to find treatments that can be used at home to combat the more extreme effects of COVID-19. “They [the taskforce] are actively looking; at the moment they're looking for experimental ingestible treatments because our form of therapy is relatively unknown – and the chemistry completely novel – but we are in touch with the right people,” the SpectrumX CEO adds. The product is currently undergoing delineation assessment in Europe as a class IIb medical device. This is being done via Spectrum’s Irish entity. “Our ultimate aim is to have our product used as a preventative sold over the counter in a pharmacy, so if your son or your daughter starts getting a cold at school you go to Boots or Superdrug and you buy a nebuliser preloaded with capsules of our solution,” explains Hancox. Effective across a range of infections  It should be stressed that the respiratory product is believed to be effective across a broad range of infections from pneumonia and flu to the common cold, which opens up a huge potential marketplace. “It’s any sort of viral or bacterial infection; anywhere in the airways (upper or lower, respiratory system) we have the same effective mode of action,” Hancox explains. “By being positively non-selective, it makes our respiratory treatment so unique.” Another major landmark upcoming is the establishment of a manufacturing facility for an ultra-effective hand sanitiser that uses the Spectricept HOCl technology and therefore doesn’t require alcohol. “During the pandemic, the outcome from using traditional hand sanitiser has been an upsurge in eczema, psoriasis, dermatitis with some quite nasty skin complaints from overexposure to alcohol,” says Hancox. Gary Davies, medical director of Chelsea & Westminster NHS Trust, said the feedback from his staff using SpectrumX’s HOCl product had been “overwhelmingly positive”.  “At the start of the pandemic, hand washing and hand sanitisers suddenly became even more important in the drive of preventing and limiting infection, but I don’t think we necessarily imagined we would be using sanitisers so intensively and for such a long period,” he explains. “Over time we have seen a really significant increase in skin conditions suffered by our staff from high usage of alcohol-based sanitisers.  “We proactively looked for a safe and effective solution to try to prevent this from happening and have now started utilising an HOCl based product produced by SpectrumX. Feedback from staff members has been overwhelmingly positive." Manufacturing ramp-up Once up and running, a manufacturing facility in the north-west of England means Spectrum can stop importing product from California, resulting in a sharp fall in costs. It also allows the company to broaden its base of prospective customers. With this (and so much more going on behind the scenes), it is hardly surprising the company is looking to tap investors. It has begun a £6mln funding round that will culminate with a stock market listing later this year. It is also building an impressive advisory and scientific team, including professor Denis Kinane, consultant surgeon, Gordon Buchanan, and professor Germar Pinggera of the Medical University Innsbruck.   The company also hopes to unveil a senior appointment from a leading American investment bank in the next few months. “It’s a great story and we know everyone we are working with and talking to is very excited about the almost endless possibilities of the technology,” says Hancox. You suspect it is an easy one too for new investors to wrap their heads around as the firm gears up for IPO. For more details of the SpectrumX listing click here.