HARTFORD—U.S. Senator Chris Murphy (D-Conn.) on Friday announced that innovator Connecticut Biotech (CT BioTech) in South Windsor has been named “Innovator of the Month.” Founded during the early days of the COVID-19 pandemic, CT BioTech’s mission is to provide safer, more comfortable, and less expensive personal protective equipment (PPE) supply options in response to the overwhelming demand and resulting price spikes. The company grew rapidly, with team members from TicketNetwork joining to help grow the business while the live event industry went largely dark.

At launch, CT BioTech’s signature product was a custom 3D printed face mask frame called Secure Fit, which fits over the wearers existing cloth or disposable face masks and helps make them safer by eliminating air gaps. The technique was developed by researchers at the University of Connecticut to help the staff at UConn Health Center work as safely as possible despite a lack of adequate PPE supplies available in the earliest days of the pandemic.

"Connecticut Biotech is less than a year old, but their impact has already been profound. They were founded with a mission to provide safer, more comfortable and less expensive PPE to health care and frontline workers, and their team and scope has grown rapidly over the course of the pandemic," said Murphy. "Connecticut Biotech has donated thousands of masks to schools, first responders, and health care providers across Connecticut. I'm grateful that they continue to prioritize the needs of our state, and I look forward to seeing all they achieve in the years to come."

“Connecticut Biotech is honored to receive this recognition from Senator Murphy for our innovative approach to providing solutions to the unique problems posed by the COVID-19 pandemic. Since our launch, we have thrived by embracing every opportunity to find new and better ways to support our clients and our community. That focus has helped us bring new products to market, and find new pathways to bring other needed supplies to our clients to address shortages and drive prices down wherever we can. The innovative spirit and talented workforce that exists here in Connecticut has played a huge role in our being able to do so,” said Don Vaccaro.

Since launch, the company has worked with clients and local officials to understand where needs are, and to seek solutions where possible. With these needs in mind, they have since expanded to offer a full line of face masks, nitrile gloves, isolation gowns, and other needed PPE by developing relationships with manufacturers to deliver quality products to their clients.

CT BioTech have begun developing partnerships with national retailers to offer their Secure Fit masks to members of the public at a reasonable price, and have sought to serve communities and the frontline workers who have helped keep Connecticut families safe throughout this past year. In the fall, CT BioTech donated custom-made Secure Fit mask frames to employees of Middletown Public Schools, South Windsor Public Schools, and the Connecticut Capital Police. After learning of continuing shortages in quality N95 respirator masks as the fall and winter surge picked up, the company donated 1,000 N95 face masks each to twelve health care organizations or municipal entities to help ease their PPE shortfalls to keep their staffs safe.

Murphy believes entrepreneurship and innovation are the building blocks for a strong economy. In the U.S. Senate, he has introduced two bipartisan pieces of legislation to incentivize angel investors to put more money into startup companies—the Angel Tax Credit Act and the Helping Angels Lead Our Startups (HALOS) Act. Startup companies create an average of 2 million jobs each year.

 

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