Contract brings nitrile glove maker to U.S.

LA VERNE, Calif.—A young manufacturer is joining the effort to increase the domestic supply of nitrile gloves in the U.S. after receiving a $96.1 million contract from the U.S. Departments of Defense and Health and Human Services.

With the federal support, United Safety Technology Inc. is slated to increase the domestic production of nitrile gloves in the U.S. by 216 million units per month by February 2023, according to a news release from the DOD.

Dan Izhaky, UST CEO and founder of the La Verne, Calif.-based manufacturing company, said the firm already has "accomplished a huge amount" toward this goal with a site located for the nitrile gloves plant, dipping line technology designed, prototype testing underway and the request for Food and Drug Administration approval submitted.

He did not disclose the location of the nitrile glove plant.

UST was founded in April 2020 to produce domestic N95 respirator masks in direct response to personal protective equipment shortages at the start of the global coronavirus pandemic. Izhaky said he saw firsthand the risks of relying on overseas PPE suppliers, noting lower quality equipment, shipment delays and redirections.

At its start, the company was producing 300,000 respirator masks per day and was on track to produce 1 million per day by the end of the first quarter of 2021, according to the company's website.

Izhaky said demand dropped off, however, as masks became "politicized" and hospitals were no longer experiencing shortages. UST has since laid off the mask production, keeping the plant on standby—but ready when needed. It is now switching gears to nitrile gloves.

It would take UST about one month to ramp up to full production of masks, about 500,000 per day, should the need arise, he noted. As for the nitrile gloves, he said UST is on pace to get its first line of gloves produced by February 2023.

Washington, D.C.-based EverGlade Consulting assisted UST with securing the contract.

"This effort was led by the DOD's Defense Assisted Acquisition in coordination with the Department of the Air Force's Acquisition COVID-19 Task Force (DAF ACT)," the consulting firm said in a news release. "HHS' Assistant Secretary for Preparedness and Response (ASPR) funded this effort through the Coronavirus Response and Relief Supplemental Appropriations Act to support industrial base expansion for critical medical resources."

According to HHS, Congress used funding under Title 3 of the Defense Production Act to support domestically produced PPE efforts, "and the (Biden) administration directed the domestic expansion of the industrial base to support national and global demand and make sure the U.S. is prepared for future pandemics."

The nitrile glove manufacturing opportunity was solicited via a public commercial solutions opening, HHS said, which was advertised online on Nov. 14, 2020, and closed Dec. 1, 2020.

"United Safety Technology Inc.'s contract to increase the domestic production of nitrile gloves is one of many contracts awarded for domestic production of personal protective equipment," HHS said.

The two federal departments "have been working diligently to realize President Biden's vision for a stronger U.S.-based medical industrial supply chain that strengthens our response operations and protects American jobs," according to HHS.

"The Biden administration is focused on expanding, securing and building resiliency across the entire public health and medical industrial base, which includes addressing shortages of life-saving medical countermeasures and pharmaceuticals, personal protective equipment, durable medical equipment and other ancillary devices and equipment to diagnose, manage and treat patients," the department continued.

DOD and HHS have invested heavily in this initiative, with no plans of stopping.

"Working in collaboration with DOD, HHS has already invested approximately $640 million in U.S. domestic contracts to build up our supply of personal protective equipment, including N95s, surgical masks, gloves, gowns and filter media; $89 million for domestic production of active pharmaceutical ingredients manufacturing; $1.4 billion for testing and diagnostics supplies; and $2.4 billion for consumables and raw materials, fill-finish capacity, vials, needles and syringes to support domestic production of vaccines and therapeutics," HHS said. "In the future, we hope to invest an additional $2.5 billion in these critical supply areas."

With several manufacturers entering the U.S. market for nitrile gloves—including Nephron Pharmaceuticals Corp.'s NephronNitrile, Texas Medical Technology and Sri Trang USA—Izhaky said having domestic players up and running will generate healthy competition as well as a plentiful supply for restocking the Strategic National Stockpile, part of the federal government's medical response infrastructure.

UST isn't worried about the competition, though.

"Our team has a huge amount of experience in producing the highest quality gloves in the world," he said. "We know everything in the process from equipment design all the way down to the best way to quality check the gloves that come off the line."

UST's website boasts bringing about 60 years of experience in manufacturing, business and sourcing to the new company.

"We have a world class team that I'd put up against anybody," he added.

Reshoring PPE production back to the U.S. is vital to ensure the highest quality of products and prevent shortages when supplies are needed the most, Izhaky said.

"The supply chain needs to be domestic in general," he said, noting the U.S. can't rely on overseas markets when it comes to life-saving products, especially with current supply chain challenges.

"When it comes to life-saving materials and equipment, that's another level of responsibility that we have to have as a nation," he said, "to our first responders, to our health care workers, to the people who are really putting their lives on the line to help others."