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BioFriend BioMasks are the first-ever antimicrobial surgical facemasks. Developed by Filligent Limited, Hong Kong, the masks recently received FDA approval. 

While wearing ordinary facemasks, users breathe and cough germs onto them, then touch, adjust and discard them – potentially spreading disease and creating what the CDC refers to “bioburdens.”

Antimicrobial materials used in the BioFriend Biomask reduce the wearer’s exposure to germs and combat key sources for hospital-acquired infections (HAIs). According to the CDC, roughly one in 20 hospitalized patients will contract HAI, including influenza, resulting in more than $30 billion in avoidable healthcare costs and 90,000 inpatient deaths. In independent laboratory tests, the BioFriend BioMask facemask inactivated 99.99% of tested pandemic and seasonal strains of influenza A & B viruses at 5 minutes, including swine flu and bird flu. Inactivation is the technical term for “killing” viruses.

The FDA clearance allows the BioMask to joins other Filligent medical devices for the global medtech market. These include self-sanitizing, antimicrobial facemasks approved by the TGA in Australia, the MHRA in the UK (on behalf of the European Union) and the HSA in Singapore. Filligent was also the first to achieve the new FFP2:2009 standard for its European range of powerful antimicrobial respirators.