ALEXANDRIA, Va., June 19 -- United States Patent no. 12,329,157, issued on June 17, was assigned to ECOLAB USA INC. (Saint Paul, Minn.).

"Anionic surfactant impact on virucidal efficacy" was invented by Catherine Hanson (Saint Paul, Minn.), Junzhong Li (Saint Paul, Minn.), Jonathan Scott Killeen (Baden Wurttemberg, Germany) and Lisa A. Hellickson (Saint Paul, Minn.).

According to the abstract* released by the U.S. Patent & Trademark Office: "Virucidal compositions including at least one acid and an alpha olefin sulfonate anionic surfactant are provided. In particular, virucidal efficacy against Murine Norovirus is provided at improved efficacy rates beyond comparative anionic surfactants. Methods of using a virucidal composition are also ...