Medline Industries, Inc.'s New Study Reaffirms Remedy(R) Skin Care Products Compatibility With CHG

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Formulated with gentle surfactants and a complex mixture of vitamins, amino acids, and hydroxytyrosol (an olive extract), Medline’s Remedy Skin Care products (Skin Repair Cream, Nutrashield and Calazime) are compatible with products using Chlorhexidine Gluconate (CHG).

MUNDELEIN, IL--(Marketwire - February 15, 2010) -

Medline Industries, Inc., the nation’s largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of medical supplies, today announced that recent tests reaffirm prior findings that the contents of its Remedy® Skin Care products (Skin Repair Cream, Nutrashield and Calazime®) are compatible with products using Chlorhexidine Gluconate (CHG). These Remedy products are formulated with gentle surfactants and a complex mixture of vitamins, amino acids, and hydroxytyrosol, an olive extract.

Patients and healthcare workers are subject to regular CHG exposure via the use of antimicrobial soaps and other products. Prior testing* had already confirmed Remedy Skin Repair Cream and Nutrashield’s compatibility with a 4% CHG product for use in conjunction with healthcare personnel antimicrobial hand washes. The recent testing* determined that Remedy Skin Repair Cream, Nutrashield and Calazime did not negatively affect the antimicrobial properties of 2% CHG wipes.

“Often clinicians have questions about the chemical formulations of products because they want to ensure that the different products they select in clinical practice will not interact or interfere when used in combination,” said Debashish Chakravarthy, PhD, FAPWCA, Vice President of Technology for Medline Advanced Skin and Wound Care. “Given CHG’s role in enhancing infection control and its known harshness on skin, it’s intuitive that clinicians would use high quality moisturizing and skin protectant products like Remedy Skin Repair Cream, Nutrashield and Calazime to provide relief to skin subjected to the harshness of CHG. That’s why we think it’s very important to provide independent confirmation from laboratory testing, so clinicians can rest assured of Remedy’s CHG compatibility. Without testing to support compatibility, one cannot comment on compatibility (or lack thereof), based solely on theoretical and partial knowledge of Remedy product composition.”

The results of the CHG compatibility study come on the heels of a separate study(1), recently published in the American Journal of Infection Control, where healthcare workers with high levels of erythema and redness (likely arising from frequent hand washing) documented improvement in skin moisture and a decrease in redness and visible dryness with Remedy. In this study, unhealthy skin was brought back in a statistically significant manner to a more normal healthy skin baseline via the consistent use of the Remedy moisturizer following hand washing. It is known that skin that is reddened or erythematous is more likely to harbor germs than skin that is healthier.

References:
*Data on File.
(1) Visscher M, Davis J, Wickett R. Effect of topical treatments on irritant hand dermatitis in health care workers. Am J Infect Control 2009 Sep 11 (Epub ahead of print).

About Remedy Advanced Skin Care System
The Remedy Advanced Skin Care system is a complete line of products clinically proven to help maintain healthy skin. Remedy features Olivamine® a proprietary blend of vital nutrients for skin including amino acids, vitamins, antioxidants and methylsulfonylmethane (MSM). Remedy products also contain silicones and natural oils designed to help relieve dry skin by holding moisture within the skin and reducing the potential for chaffing by forming a protective barrier between skin and clothing.

About Medline Industries, Inc.
Medline, the nation’s largest privately held manufacturer and distributor of healthcare products, manufactures and distributes more than 100,000 products to hospitals, extended-care facilities, surgery centers, home care dealers and agencies and other markets. Headquartered in Mundelein, Ill., Medline has more than 800 dedicated sales representatives nationwide to support its broad product line and cost management services.

Meeting the highest level of national and international quality standards, Medline is FDA QSR compliant and ISO certified 13485:2003. Medline serves on major industry quality committees to develop guidelines and standards for medical product use, including the FDA Midwest Steering Committee, AAMI Sterilization and Packaging Committee and various ASTM committees. For more information on Medline, visit our Web site, www.medline.com.