Disinfect & Shield aims to bring its 'product mainstream' as states reopen

As restaurants, retailers and businesses across the nation look to reopen, all-purpose cleaner Disinfect & Shield is hoping to bring its product mainstream. Patrick Haddad, Disinfect & Shield Chief Product and Technology Officer joins Yahoo Finance to discuss how the product works and future outlook for the company.

Video Transcript

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Well, as we see in more and more states beginning to reopen, the big challenge and question for many companies and retailers is how are they going to sterilize their locations efficiently? Disinfect & Shield is a company that hopes to be able to provide a solution for that.

We are joined now by the company's-- Disinfect & Shield Chief Product and Technology Officer Patrick Haddad. Patrick, good to have you with us. I think the name probably says it all, Disinfect & Shield, but tell us exactly what this product is and how it works.

PATRICK HADDAD: Sure, Alexis. Nice to be on. It's a surgic-- it's a product that 10 years ago was invented to disinfect and shield in only surgical-level suites used by 10 different world-class surgeons to completely disinfect op rooms. What it does is it's a solution that's odorless, both EPA and FDA registered, and green and eco friendly. It dries in a few seconds and essentially creates an invisible shield throughout the room that is officially tested to last continuously. It can only be wiped off by any kind of outside abrasion. So what that means is hands on doorknobs, any hard rubbing surface from human touch. So our recommendation is every 30 days and your room is completely protected in high-traffic areas without seeing it, without having to clear the room before.

[INTERPOSING VOICES]

BRIAN SOZZI: I'm sorry. Go ahead, Alexis.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: I was just wondering, who can use this? I mean, can Brian and I use this in our homes, or is this just for, you know, for hospitals and large companies?

PATRICK HADDAD: No, absolutely not. Our goal as a company was to bring this to the mainstream. I'm a United States Marine Corps veteran. I have a couple other veteran partners. Our goal is literally as few handshakes as we can, as few texts out of my mouth, my texts, and my emails to get it across the world. We've been talking to nursing homes, prisons, subway systems, B2C, direct retail. We've pretty much been taking it to as many different means as we can. We do have the means to distribute it as a B2C in individual 16-ounce bottles as well as in 55 gallons, 275 gallon tubs when it comes down to countries or anyone on the government side.

BRIAN SOZZI: Patrick, I'm not-- I'm not-- I haven't seen a product like this, to be perfectly fair. Have you gotten calls from, let's say, a Procter & Gamble and a Church & Dwight to team up to start mass producing this?

PATRICK HADDAD: Brian, we haven't got there yet, but we do have-- we do have close to 100 million gallons on hand. We are already looking to scale out. We do have a few strong partners already on our side. We're making some pretty large handshakes, partnerships with entire countries, and it's exactly why we got on board.

I mean, in my opinion, this is a social responsibility in addition to just a business responsibility to get out there. And for the time being, it's our goal to get it out there because I mean, frankly, we need to open back up, and this is, in our opinion, what needs to be the new norm when it comes down to safety in the commercial space as well as home.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Patrick, speaking of safety, how safe is it for people to inhale this, to be around this disinfectant?

PATRICK HADDAD: Again, this is odorless. It's eco friendly. It's green. It literally dries in a few seconds. You can spray it on skin. You can spray it on-- usually a disinfectant-- this uses what's called a chemical kill-- or, I'm sorry, mechanical kill. The difference there is usually a chemical kill will be something like covering up a smell with perfume versus in our case what we're doing is having a lot of little pins and needles which actually break and destroy the virus or the germs at their surface.

So it's a lot safer. It's a lot more effective, and it lasts a lot longer without all the harsh risks of having chemicals involved. This is 100% alcohol free as well and comes in a hand sanitizer that lasts eight hours as well.

So we understand this is an outlier in the market. We understand that we've been getting our doors beat down internationally once we brought this to market, and we're just trying our best to deal with demand and bring it out to the world.

BRIAN SOZZI: Patrick, you know, I look at-- I look at disinfecting wipes. I look at bleach, but I see a product like this. Is it-- are those products outdated and more products like yours could be on the horizon? Are you concerned that you might see some of these bigger players come in?

PATRICK HADDAD: Frankly, Brian, as far as I understand them, we have been an outlier from the market. We've tested about 300 or 400 different products. We've had an MIT mixologist on it. We have one of the top infectious-disease specialist from Texas, one of the NFL's neurosurgeons. We have quite a big clinical team that told us this, essentially for the time being, is somewhat of an outlier.

And it's something that's been used for over a decade in surgical suites that was invented by a neurosurgeon to solve the wound-infection problem, and it's really one of those things that imagine if six months ago you said how many people have an interest in what's considered the creme de la creme of the disinfectant space? Most companies would hang up because this wasn't in the top 500 of their priority list.

Suddenly with what's happened the last few months, this suddenly becomes number one and two, and it's just been a very rapid adjustment in the market. And our company has, for the time being, been able to adjust and get it out, and we're hoping to get this across the world, you know, and continue awareness, people like yourselves getting us out there.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: Yeah, and boom, just like that, you know, you and your company are in vogue right now. So a couple of questions for you. I'd imagine this is patented. Do you have a patent on this? And also to go along with Brian's thinking, I'm wondering how long it's going to take for P&G or Unilever or one of those giants to come make you a takeover offer.

PATRICK HADDAD: Sure. So first off, this is not patented. This is a situation where, if you guys know, you have to release all the formulations for a patent. There's been multiple reverse-engineering attempts in the past, and thus far, no one has been successful thus far, so it's not in the plans. It's a recommendation from attorneys.

And number two, I mean, frankly, I'm really not too concerned about any other large companies. We're trying to establish as ourself. We already have the-- we already have the scale and the mechanisms to be able to deliver in bulk. We also have an application and servicing on our side as well. If someone calls us and says I have 100,000 square feet for a church, for an arena, for a stadium, we do have the means and partners are ready to execute that within 7 to 10 days at last anywhere in the country.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: And just-- I mean, I think it's obvious, but you can't ingest this stuff, correct?

PATRICK HADDAD: No, no, that's about the one level. We talk about safety. It can be sprayed everywhere, a few seconds, alcohol free, but you're not supposed to be ingest [INAUDIBLE], correct.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: I want to make sure our president's hearing that as well.

PATRICK HADDAD: I want to be clear as well. I mean, you can put this around your nose. I mean, you talk about being extremely safe is everything. This is about as safe as it gets for a cleaning product.

And yeah, I mean, from what we've understood as well, this is a complete outlier. You know, my background is building search engines, marketing platforms. I'm a Forbes-endorsed marketer, and I got behind this when I found out. And I just found out the check marks that this product hits. This is not matched on the market from anything we've seen thus far. But as always, you never know what you don't know. So we're happy to make engagements with anyone looking to help and the social responsibility piece of getting us out there.

ALEXIS CHRISTOFOROUS: All right, definitely interesting and important work that you're doing there. Patrick Haddad, Disinfect & Shield chief product and technology officer, best of luck to you.

PATRICK HADDAD: Thanks for having me, Brian and Alexis.