E-Z-EM Lands $8 Million Order From Department of Defense

The U.S. Department of Defense has placed an $8 million order with Lake Success, NY-based E-Z-EM (EZEM) for its Reactive Skin Decontamination Lotion [RSDL]. The order, the largest E-Z-EM has received for the decontaminant to date, will ship by April 2008, when the company will recognize revenues.

“We are especially pleased with this order, as the DoD has exceeded our original estimate for procurement of RSDL in the government’s 2007 fiscal year,” said Anthony Lombardo, E-Z-EM’s CEO, in a statement. The Department of Defense placed its first order — worth $5.07 million, for both RSDL and training packets — back in April.

RSDL is a broad-spectrum decontamination product intended to remove or neutralize chemical warfare agents or T2 toxins from the skin. It was originally developed by Defense Research and Development Canada, an agency within the Canadian Department of National Defense, for use by the Canadian Forces. But RSDL has since been adopted by several military services around the world, including the U.S. Army.

The product has been 510[k] cleared since March 2003 and authorized for sale to first-responder organizations since September 2004. In September 2006, RSDL was awarded Safety Act certification by the U.S. Department of Homeland Security, which extends certain liability protections to E-Z-EM in the event RSDL is used in response to a terrorist attack.

E-Z-EM, around since 1962, is much better known for its GI tract diagnostic imaging products than those that protect against chemical warfare. But the company became the exclusive marketer of RSDL in April 2005, when it bought all assets associated with the product from O’Dell Engineering.

EZEM 1-year chart