Summary
In 2025 WHO's essential medicines committee added hypochlorous acid solution of at least 150 ppm to the Model List as an environmental disinfectant. It did not recommend it for antisepsis or wound care, citing inconclusive evidence of benefit.
Key points
- The listing is for a "solution (aqueous) containing hypochlorous acid of at least 150 parts per million", as a disinfectant, on the core lists for adults and children.
- The committee added an explicit entry so hypochlorous acid is not confused with hypochlorite products.
- Antisepsis and wound care: not recommended. The application was a slightly modified version of Briotech's 2021 application and presented no new evidence of benefits or harms.
- In 2021 the committee had found the antisepsis evidence "relatively limited" and based on "small and heterogeneous studies", and said it would welcome a future application with new data.