Ondine technology 'highly effective' against MRSA isolates

The AIM-traded firm said that, with more than a quarter of people colonised with staphylococcus aureus in the nose and some of those carrying the MRSA type, there remained an unmet need for new therapies.

Few new antibiotics were under development, and alternative means of killing drug-resistant infections needed to be found, with light-activated compounds providing a possible answer.

The company said the new research was conducted using 100 recent multidrug-resistant staphylococcus aureus MRSA clinical isolates obtained from patients presenting to a large tertiary care hospital in Vancouver.

Each isolate was selected for resistance to one or more major classes of antibiotics in widespread use today, and then subjected to ‘Steriwave’ photodisinfection in vitro.

The study found that the photodisinfection treatment eliminated more than 99.9% of each isolate in 60 seconds, irrespective of the isolate's antibiotic resistance.

“Antibiotic resistance is one of the most dangerous developments in clinical medicine,” said the company’s vice-president of medical and clinical affairs, Jason Hickok.

“Over 200 Americans and 78 Britons die each day from an untreatable hospital-acquired infection, and hundreds of patients more suffer from comorbidities and disfigurements of lifesaving revision surgeries and associated treatment.”

Hickok said the loss of antibiotics could see the return of a way of life last seen almost a century ago, where a scratched knee or a minor burn could prove lethal.

“This research demonstrates the power of Steriwave photodisinfection, a modern photonic solution to topical disinfection without using antibiotics, without engendering resistance, and without causing pain or side effects to the patient.”

At 1305 BST, shares in Ondine Biomedical were down 0.89% at 26.76p.

Reporting by Josh White at Sharecast.com.