COVID-19, at the moment, might feel safely in the rearview mirror. But other respiratory viruses and bacterial-caused walking pneumonia are stoking human health concerns — and COVID is far from vanquished.
Seattle startup Singletto is ready with a new line of defense: pathogen-killing face masks that were recently approved for use by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.
“It’s the only FDA-cleared mask in the market today that kills viruses,” said CEO John Bjornson. While just wearing a mask can help protect people from viruses, Bjornson calls this a notable improvement.
“It’s like adding the airbag to the seat belt,” he said. “So you’re wearing the mask for protection, and killing the virus is an important feature.”
The masks include a product that contains methylene blue, a chemical known for its ability to kill viruses, bacteria and fungi. It’s also relatively safe for humans as methylene blue is used in the treatment of various health conditions. It could replace silver nanoparticles currently used in healthcare products and in other settings in order to kill pathogens, but the particles are building to worrying levels in the environment and associated with antibiotic resistance.
Singletto is marketing a methylene blue product called Oxafence Active Protection. Tests of the technology showed that 99.9% of specific viral strains were inactivated within five minutes of contact with a treated mask. The product has potential for use on wide-ranging healthcare items.
Healthcare masks featuring Oxafence have been used in New Zealand since 2022.
“There are very few technologies that are proven effective against bacteria and viruses that have a favorable safety profile and are cost effective,” Bjornson said.
Singletto launched in 2020 and its leadership has deep roots in healthcare and entrepreneurship in the Pacific Northwest.
Bjornson, Dr. Tom Lendvay and Dr. Jim Chen co-founded the startup. The two doctors were important players in a 2020 World Health Organization (WHO)-led study demonstrating that methylene blue photochemical treatment could decontaminate COVID-19 viruses on masks and respirators.
Lendvay, who is Singletto’s chief medical officer, is a pediatric urologist at Seattle Children’s Hospital, a professor in the University of Washington’s Urology Department, and co-founder of Tend, startup focused on microbiome restoration technology.
Chen, Singletto’s chief science officer, is a former neurosurgeon who also co-founded an oncology research company.
Bjornson was with the Seattle business consulting firm Point B for 25 years, and during that time he launched and oversaw Point B’s venture capital platform for a decade ending in 2020.
The startup team has six employees and plans to hire more as it ramps up commercial operations. Singletto has raised $7 million from investors including SeaChange, a Seattle-based investment group that launched in 2014 but recently stopped making investments. The company is preparing to close a Series A round.
Singletto is partnering with Prestige Ameritech, the largest wholly domestic surgical mask maker in the U.S., to manufacture Oxafence-containing masks. The startup is producing the chemical in North Carolina and incorporating it into a polypropylene fabric that becomes the outer layer of the masks.
The masks are marketed as ProGear ASTM L3 Surgical Masks with Oxafence and priced lower than N95 masks, Bjornson said.
Singletto is considering other applications of the technology, including respirators, hospital scrubs, other personal protection equipment, and hospital room privacy curtains.
The startup has also worked with the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA) to develop military uniform applications to protect against pathogens. Singletto was recently selected for a DARPA embedded entrepreneur program.
Bjornson said it feels great to have successfully navigated the FDA approval process and is ready to ramp up sales operations.
“It’s been a lot of hurry up and wait,” he said. “And now we have the green light so the focus next year, with regards to the mask, is go time.”
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