Strengthening business readiness and cooperation is crucial in the fight against COVID- 19. In this context, Athens Medical Group and Vitex SA, two innovative Greek enterprises, responding to the special and unprecedented conditions we are going through due to the pandemic crisis, while taking into account the new data related to the protection of human health, proceed to a new collaboration aimed at preventing and limiting the spread of COVID -19 through painted surfaces.

The collaboration focuses on the innovative plastic paint Vitex with Vairo (NATIONAL ORGANIZATION FOR MEDICINES LICENSE NO: 90167/04-10-2021) that offers antiviral and antibacterial properties to painted interior walls, according to three renowned European laboratories*. It is noted that Vitex with Vairo is a Greek innovation and it is the only paint in the European market that has received marketing licenses in many countries from the respective Drug Organizations. The application of Vitex with Vairo almost eliminates the possibility of transmission through painted surfaces of a variety of viruses – including SARS-CoV2 – while it is equally effective in eliminating many bacteria, such as E. coli, St. Aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Enterococcushirae, Pseudomonas Aeruginosa, which are also blamed for hospital infections.

The Athens Medical Group, always supporting scientific innovation and cutting-edge technologies, tested and evaluated Vitex with Vairo on surfaces with high cleaning and disinfection requirements with excellent results. The aim is to apply the paint to all interior walls of the Group’s hospitals, thus forming an additional “barrier” to the transmission of viral and bacterial infections, including COVID-19.

The new agreement between the Athens Medical Group and Vitex SA comes to deepen and expand the strategic interconnection of the two companies falling within the purpose of the Hellenic Association of Entrepreneurs (EENE – Dr. Vassilis Apostolopoulos, Chairman of the BoD and Armodios Giannidis, General Secretary of the BoD) which through business networking promotes innovation, productivity and competitiveness. A common goal is a successful and long-term strategic cooperation that will highlight and promote the expertise, production and quality services of Greek enterprises.

Dr. Vassilis Apostolopoulos, CEO of the Athens Medical Group stated: “I am very glad that the Greek expertise can substantially contribute to addressing the greatest health challenge of our time, COVID -19. Athens Medical Group will always be an ally of innovative Greek initiatives with applications in the field of health.”

Armodios Giannidis, CEO of Vitex SA noted: “The collaboration with Athens Medical Group was important for the development of Vairo technology as it helped us understand in depth the infectious challenges faced by modern hospitals and the daily requirements for cleaning and disinfecting surfaces. We feel that by answering all the questions and by giving solutions to the issues posed to us, we contribute on the one hand to the fight against the pandemic, and on the other hand to the long-term and general improvement of the medical conditions of our fellow human beings”.

* The tests and bioassays were performed based on the ISO 21702:2019, ISO 22196:2011 standards and the proposed practices of the Organization for Economic Cooperation and Development (OECD) to assess the effectiveness of items treated with antimicrobial additives (ENV/JM/MONO (2018) 20:2019).