VisMederi was established in 2009 by a team of researchers from the Molecular Epidemiology Laboratory of the University of Siena, Italy. The company operates in the fields of life sciences and public health and conducts analytical testing of biological samples and validation of bioanalytical methods for the pharmaceutical industry. Its area of expertise is in bioanalytical testing for influenza vaccines. In 2013 the company expanded its research to include quality control analysis for food, water and various types of environment.

Dr Robert Lambkin-Williams was a virologist with expertise in molecular virology, viral immunology, vaccines and HIV. He studied Pharmacy at the University of Bristol, gaining BSc Hons in 1989. He was awarded a PhD in Virology by the University of Warwick before joining Retroscreen Virology, where he was CEO and Chief Scientific Officer between 1995 and 2014. In 2001, he designed and implemented the first Human Viral Challenge Study to be conducted in Europe in the 21st century. In 2014, he joined hVivo Group as Chief Scientific Officer, working there until 2018 on respiratory antivirals, vaccines and novel diagnostics. He became an independent virologist in 2019, setting up his own consultancy business Virologyconsult Ltd. Through this consultancy business, he worked with Virustatic Ltd on the development of the Virustatic Shield face covering. He died in 2021.

Paul Hope is an engineer who developed the Virustatic Shield, a fabric snood face covering with an anti viral protein coating which traps and disables certain viruses. Mr Hope was inspired to begin work on developing the snood and protein technology after the SARS epidemic in 2010. His grandfather had died of Spanish Flu in 1919 and Mr Hope believed that another pandemic flu was inevitable. After ten years of development and seeing Covid 19 starting to spread across the world, Virustatic pushed through the final stages of development to bring the snood to market in March 2020, in the hope that the protein would prove effective against respiratory viruses other than flu.