The boom and bust cycle of mining makes the market for precious metals precarious for businesses, a situation that William Moeller sought to resolve in 1998, when he formed American Biotech Labs in Alpine, Utah as a complement to the silver mines he owned.

American Biotech has developed silver-based products in two primary areas: supplements and wound care, says Keith Moeller, a managing director of American Biotech. Its SilverBiotics supplement has sold more than 1 million bottles worldwide; last year the company received FDA approval for two of its wound care products; and it has three different EPA approvals for its products’ use as a disinfectant.

“We were looking for ways to use our silver that were more profitable for us than just selling it on the market,” Moeller says. “That’s how we got into developing silver as a disinfectant. More importantly, at the moment, we’ve been able to get basically all of the approvals for all the different types of wound care. That’s really important for us; the ability to take a wound that wouldn’t normally heal and be able to have that wound heal and be able to have it heal without scarring, and to be able to disinfect that wound from some of the nastiest bacteria that does exist.”

American Biotech’s SilverSol Technology has been approved as a topical dressing for cuts, lacerations, abrasions and burns. It has also been tested against malaria, tuberculosis, HIV and methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), a bacterial infection that is highly resistant to some antibiotics.

“We haven’t found a pathogen we couldn’t kill with this new technology. We’ve been able to patent the technology with what we believe are the most broad-spectrum health patents ever issued by the U.S. government to any company at any time.”

American Biotech’s patented technology emits an energy at the same frequency as ultraviolet light so product can kill bacteria that it doesn’t touch, Moeller says, “which gives us a one-upmanship on every other silver product or technology that exists. What we’ve created was a brand-new nanoparticle. This nanoparticle has the ability to neutralize virus and kill bacteria and also kill yeast and mold, but it’s not toxic to human tissue or to humans at all.”

The U.S. Food and Drug Administration last year gave approval to two American Biotech products, ASAP Antibacterial Silver Wound Dressing Gel and ASAP Antibacterial Silver Gel. The wound dressing is approved for cuts, lacerations, abrasions, burns and skin irritations. The silver gel is also used for the treatment of these injuries as well as various ulcers and other wounds.

“What we would really like to do is eliminate secondary infections in the United States,” Moeller says. “We believe we can change the medicinal history of the world. And that’s a lot for a small company.”