Sensuva Temporarily Switches Production to Hand Sanitizer

LOS ANGELES—As the industry continues to shelter in place and limit production during the COVID-19 pandemic, Sensuva has retooled a bit to provide an essential item for the general public. While much of the staff is following the stay-at-home order, Sensuva President Tony Santoro said he and roughly half the staff for the company’s lab are working to create hand sanitizer. “It was either close down completely, or be able to keep some employees working while also being able to fill an important need,” Santoro said of the decision to redirect and revamp production. “There is a massive shortage of sanitizer right now and it is very important for this product to be available for the overall health and safety of our country. If we can help bridge the gap until those that mass produce hand sanitizer can restock the shelves appropriately, then we can sleep better at night knowing we did everything we could to help during this crisis.” Santoro said while he is still personally handling shipment of a few orders to stores that might still be open, the primary work at Sensuva right now is hand sanitizer. The switch was relatively easy, Santoro told AVN, because the manufacturer already had many of the raw materials needed in stock. “The problem was finding additional raw materials, and even packaging,” he said. “Finding additional alcohol and some other ingredients were very challenging to locate to say the least. The alcohol that we did find was outrageously priced, about two to three times normal, but we had no other options. “The second challenge we quickly discovered was that bottles were out of stock everywhere, and the production schedules are backed up until mid-summer,” Santoro continued. “Therefore, we have a limit on what we can produce.” Sensuva has made the hand sanitizer they produce available to those who need it, including doctors, hospitals, clinics, stores and consumers. “My partner and I agonized tremendously over this decision. Being a small company, we have formed bonds and friendships with a lot of our employees. One of the most painful days we’ve ever experienced in life was the day we had to send everyone home with so much uncertainty ahead,” Santoro said. “That same day we got word the FDA was allowing temporary compounding of hand sanitizer and sent out guidelines. We immediately decided to explore this route to see if there was a way to keep at least some of our staff on making an essential product.” But there will still challenges. The exorbitantly inflated prices for alcohol (the base ingredient for hand sanitizer) forced Sensuva’s leadership to make yet another tough choice. “As a small company, we couldn’t afford to manufacture at a loss, especially with limited revenue coming in from our Sensuva brand,” Santoro said. “We would have loved to be able to give it away for free, but we could not survive keeping the staff working during this time with little to no revenue coming in due to our industry being labeled non-essential. “The cost of making hand sanitizer based on the increased prices of the raw materials was offensive to say the least, and then to pass that ridiculous price along to people in need to just cover our costs … it was an excruciating and difficult decision to say the least,” he added. But when the owners researched online and found there was no hand sanitizer to be found, they made up their minds. “We decided we had to do it and just apologize to everyone up front over the cost,” Santoro said. “Even knowing we’re doing a good thing, it’s still a difficult thing to process.” Sensuva will continue to create hand sanitizer as long as possible, Santoro added. For more, visit Sensuva.com.