ICP Industrial, a division of Innovative Chemical Products (ICP) and HeiQ have signed an agreement granting ICP Industrial worldwide exclusivity for the HeiQ Viroblock Technology. The water-based and energy-cure coating applications will include but not limited to commercial printing, film laminates, packaging including food, beverage, flexible and pharmaceuticals.

ICP Industrial will bring HeiQ Viroblock technology, one of the world’s leading antiviral/antibacterial technologies to the graphic arts market further expanding ICP’s innovative portfolio of products.

ICP Industrial and HeiQ have signed a five year worldwide agreement that grants ICP Industrial exclusive rights to implement the HeiQ Viroblock technology in thin film coatings for printing and coating processes. An integral part of the agreement was to enter and intensify a collaborative R&D partnership between the two companies.

ICP will offer the HeiQ Viroblock technology with brand trademark licensing to all ICP Industrial’s worldwide downstream customers, which manufacture packaging products for some of the world’s largest consumer brands. According to the company, this will enable brand owners to market products in antimicrobial packaging. In addition to packaging sectors, ICP customers can utilise the HeiQ Viroblock technology in other high touch printed and coated surfaces including laminate films.

Recent studies show that the SARS-CoV-2 virus could persist on inanimate surfaces such as metals, glass or plastic for up to several days. It was the conceptive goal to make surfaces antiviral/antimicrobial that HeiQ Viroblock was first invented.

Originally conceived as an antiviral/antimicrobial technology for textiles, this technology has proven its innovative versatility as it has already been adopted for paints and most recently for printed paper and plastic-coated products.

HeiQ Viroblock is among the first technologies in the world to be proven effective against SARS-CoV-2 (the virus causing Covid-19) and has been applied by more than 150 brands worldwide to over one billion face masks and countless other materials. HeiQ Viroblock combines two mechanisms of attack resulting in an over 99.99% destruction of various kinds of viruses and bacteria in minutes, according to tests performed to ISO 18184 and ISO 20743 standards in Europe on textiles. HeiQ Viroblock NPJ03 is made with 100% cosmetic-grade materials.

The two companies are currently optimising the product development and testing, while pursuing to obtain approval from the EPA to make antiviral claims for the intended applications in the USA.

According to ICP, setting new milestones in the evolution of this technology, the incorporation of HeiQ Viroblock in ICP Industrial’s coatings confirms its leading role for the pursuit of safeguarding mainstream high touch materials one encounters in everyday life. The new partnership will, on the one hand, strengthen the ICP Industrial portfolio of products while giving consumers the trust and confidence level to live ‘normal’ lives secure in the knowledge that printed and coated surfaces touched daily are less likely to be hosting surfaces for viruses and bacteria.

ICP Industrial’s division president Paul Grzebielucha said: “We are excited to offer this new innovative technology to the print world. We have global reach under our brands of Nicoat, MinusNine and Hitech Coatings to provide this protection on billions of printed surfaces per year. This HeiQ Viroblock game changing technology for our industry and society has proven to be a superior solution that is currently available in the marketplace.

He said that HeiQ products have proven efficacy in minutes rather than hours with an effective rate of 99.99%. He added that ICP Industrial has always provided innovative solutions to the graphic arts and packaging segments while maintaining the highest level of customer and technical service in the industry.

“ICP Industrial is very excited about the partnership with HeiQ bringing this technology to market providing a safer touch environment to the world,” Grzebielucha said.

“It is with great pleasure that we team up with ICP Industrial, a global leader serving the print and packaging industry with advanced coating systems,” said HeiQ co-founder and CEO, Carlo Centonze. “As we have all learned in this global pandemic surfaces matter and viruses can remain infectious for several days on paper, plastics and cardboard.”

“HeiQ and ICP Industrial bring together their unique knowledge to offer consumers Viroblocked packaging and commercial print solutions,” Centonze concluded.