Hospitals and pharmacies are often considered beacons of health, the safest and most sterile places for patient care. While these facilities have improved the lives of countless patients, they may be hurting those that work in them.

Hazardous drugs contaminate surfaces and cause sterile workplace environments to become unsafe.

“I was amazed that there were high levels of hazardous drugs everywhere we looked. When I realized it, I was sold that this was an important issue,” said Bill Zamboni, associate professor in the UNC-Chapel Hill Eshelman School of Pharmacy and co-founder and scientific advisor of ChemoGLO.

ChemoGLO, a Chapel Hill-based company focused on the detection and removal of hazardous drugs, has developed a test kit and a cleaning product that can be used in any location where there is a risk of harmful exposure due to preparation and administration of hazardous drugs.

The problem

Antineoplastic agents, which are used to treat cancer, are harmful to healthy cells and tissues as well as to cancerous cells.

Pharmacists who prepare these drugs and nurses who may prepare and administer these drugs are the two occupational groups who have the highest potential exposure to antineoplastic agents.

Historical data conducted by ChemoGLO shows that 80 percent to 90 percent of sites tested have at least one area of detectable drug residue on surfaces in preparation and administration areas.

After hearing about the problem when literature about workplace exposure to drugs began surfacing, Stephen Eckel, associate dean in the Pharmacy School, who at the time was managing the hospital pharmacy at UNC-CH, became concerned about pharmacists and pharmacy technicians having a safe work environment.

Eckel joined forces with Bill Zamboni to develop a reference lab and easy-to-use wipe kit to detect surface contamination of these antineoplastic agents.

After completing their research project at UNC-CH, Eckel and Bill Zamboni had built a formidable client base.

“We already had this group of clients that were using us a couple of times per year. We had revenue from day one after launching the company,” said Zamboni.

Eckel and Zamboni spun out ChemoGLO into a private company, where it has since grown and continued to generate revenue.

The products

ChemoGLO is a kit with a simple procedure that accurately quantifies trace amounts of contaminants from the use of antineoplastic agents and other hazardous drugs, such as hormones and steroids.

Once the wipes at a site have been completed, the samples are sent back to the ChemoGLO laboratory facility for analysis. Within two weeks, a complete, easy-to-understand report of exposure concentrations are sent via email.

“Using the ChemoGLO Wipe Kit is the fastest, easiest and most reliable way to get quantitative data on potential hazardous drug exposures at baseline and for ongoing risk assessments,” said Cara Zamboni, the company’s CEO.

A single ChemoGLO Wipe Kit can measure 24 drugs at the same time, minimizing the costs and time required to perform the wipe studies.

ChemoGLO’s product has become lucrative and appears to be popping up everywhere.

“Our product is currently the most widely used wipe kit in the world. We are in two-thirds of the largest cancer centers in the United States at this point,” said Cara Zamboni.

After generating significant revenue from the wipe studies, ChemoGLO decided to expand and make other products to address the problem of hazardous drug contamination.

The company has since developed Hazardous Drug Clean, or HDClean, a product that can clean and remove all detectable antineoplastic agent contamination commonly found in places that prepare and administer chemotherapy.

Using HDClean as part of a regular cleaning program helps reduce the risk of exposure to employees and patients alike.

ChemoGLO’s strategy

While ChemoGLO’s products alone draw in enough attention and revenue to sustain the company, their exceptional customer service gives ChemoGLO an edge over their competitors.

“Being a smaller company allows us to have that one-on-one connection with our customers. We’re here to provide that higher level of customer service and focus on this very important issue that you don’t always see with larger suppliers,” said Cara Zamboni.

ChemoGLO has a commitment to respond within 24 hours to all inquiries made by customers, and the company routinely ships their products within the same day.

The company also has a strong focus on branching out into other areas of research while staying lean efficient in areas where they have strengths.

ChemoGLO’s strategy has paid off, as they continue to generate new products and bring in revenue.

“We’re always trying to do research to understand what is going on and what is causing these exposures. We ultimately always want to be involved in research, development, marketing and sales of current and new products,” said Bill Zamboni.

Eckel further attributed the company’s success to the knowledge and expertise of ChemoGLO’s staff.

“A lot of our competitors are industrial hygiene experts. Our company’s background and focus is in pharmacy and healthcare. Having and understanding the practice and needs of pharmacy and nursing goes a long way with customers and cancer centers,” said Eckel.

ChemoGLO’s customers are clearly satisfied, as they have no hesitation talking about what the company has done for them.

“They’re very responsive. You receive everything in a few weeks where historically you would have to wait months before you received your results back,” said Lindsey Amerine, interim regional director of pharmacy at the medical center and associate professor of clinical education at the Pharmacy School. “They’ve worked really well with us.”

What’s next?

As the company continues researching and developing products to solve the problems caused by hazardous contamination, they are also gearing up for the implementation of USP 800 later this year.

USP 800, which provides standards for safe handling and hazardous drugs to minimize the risk of exposure to healthcare personnel, patients and the environment, says that hospitals should test for contamination on their surfaces as a market for testing of exposure to hazardous drugs.

The USP 800 guidelines, which will be launched in December 2019, have led to more knowledge about ChemoGLO and growth in their sales.

Needless to say, the company is looking forward to the arrival of these guidelines.

“In the last six years, we’ve had high percent growth each year. When these guidelines come in, we expect the use of our products to drastically increase further. In six to eight months, I think we’ll have a larger increase in sales and usage,” said Cara Zamboni.

While the company looks forward to the future, they remain grateful to the people and institutions that helped get the company off the ground.

“We have a lot of assistance and resources in starting this at UNC. In the beginning, we had a lot of people telling us it could be a viable company. I didn’t know how,” said Bill Zamboni. “Without the collaboration, guidance and infrastructure that UNC provided, this wouldn’t have happened.”