Ondine Biomedical Inc - Steriwave now available through NHS Supply Chain

VANCOUVER, CANADA / ACCESSWIRE / June 21, 2024 / Ondine Biomedical Inc. (LON:OBI), the Canadian life sciences company pioneering light-activated antimicrobial treatments, is pleased to announce that its Steriwave^® nasal photodisinfection is now available through the NHS Supply Chain, making it significantly easier for NHS hospitals in England and Wales to purchase. This marks the first time a light-activated antimicrobial has been available through the NHS Supply Chain, a national body which manages the sourcing, delivery and supply of healthcare products to the NHS and healthcare organizations in England and Wales.

Steriwave is a groundbreaking antimicrobial treatment that rapidly eliminates infection-causing pathogens without generating antimicrobial resistance (AMR). This innovative solution replaces the traditional antibiotic mupirocin, which is commonly used to decolonize the nose and help prevent healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) but has high rates of AMR and low patient compliance.

In March 2024, Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust became the first in the UK to commercially adopt Steriwave as the standard of care for hip and knee surgery patients to prevent surgical site infections (SSIs). As previously announced, the commercial adoption of Steriwave at Pontefract and Pinderfields NHS Hospitals followed a successful initial deployment at Pontefract Hospital.

Dr. Stuart Bond, Consultant Antimicrobial Pharmacist and Director of Innovation at Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust, commented:

"We are very pleased to be the first NHS Trust to give patients access to this important new technology. SSIs can have a devastating effect on patients and their families, and we are pleased that we have demonstrated the feasibility of using Steriwave in our Orthopaedic Centre of Excellence at Pontefract Hospital. It is a real step forward to making Steriwave more widely available across the Trust."

Ondine is also collaborating with Mid Yorkshire Teaching NHS Trust and Health Innovation Yorkshire & Humber to sponsor a health economic analysis with the York Health Economics Consortium (YHEC). The findings of this study, expected later this year, will be used to support further adoption of Steriwave across the NHS and additional surgical applications.

SSIs, among the most common HAIs, affect one in 20 NHS surgical patients^[1] and cost NHS England over £2 billion annually,^[2] with costs expected to rise due to increasing AMR. WHO and NICE recommend eliminating harmful pathogens from the nasal cavities before surgery as a key approach to preventing SSIs. Steriwave uses a proprietary photosensitive microbial stain and activating red light to destroy nasal pathogens in a single, five-minute treatment without triggering AMR. As previously announced, Steriwave has been demonstrated in peer-reviewed studies and over 150,000 treatments to significantly reduce post-surgical infection rates with no serious adverse events reported, improving patient outcomes, reducing antibiotic use, and saving millions annually.

Enquiries:

About Ondine Biomedical Inc.

Ondine Biomedical Inc. is a clinical Canadian life sciences company and leader in light-activated antimicrobial therapies (also known as 'photodisinfection'). Ondine has a pipeline of investigational products, based on its proprietary photodisinfection technology, in various stages of development.

Ondine's nasal photodisinfection system has a CE mark in Europe, the UK-CA mark, and is approved in Canada and several other countries under the name Steriwave®. In the US, it has been granted Qualified Infectious Disease Product designation and Fast Track status by the FDA and is currently undergoing clinical trials for regulatory approval. Products beyond nasal photodisinfection include therapies for a variety of medical indications such as chronic sinusitis, ventilator-associated pneumonia, burns and other indications.

About Steriwave^®

Ondine's Steriwave nasal photodisinfection system is a patented technology using a proprietary light-activated antimicrobial (photosensitizer) to destroy bacteria, viruses, and fungi colonizing the nose. The photodisinfection treatment is carried out by a trained healthcare professional and is an easy-to-use, painless, two-step process. The photosensitizer is applied to each nostril using a nasal swab, followed by illumination of the area with a specific wavelength of red laser light for less than five minutes. The light activates the photosensitizer, causing an oxidative burst that is lethal to all types of pathogens without causing long-term adverse effects on the nasal microbiome. A key benefit of this approach-unlike with antibiotics, which have resistance rates reported as high as 81%^[3]-is that pathogens do not develop resistance to the therapy.

Nasal decolonization is recommended in the 2016 WHO Global guidelines for the prevention of surgical site infections,^[4] and the Society for Healthcare Epidemiology of America (SHEA) guidelines, published in May 2023, recommend nasal decolonization for major surgical procedures.^[5]

^[1] National Institute for Health and Care Excellence, Surgical site infections: prevention and treatment NICE guideline [NG125], 2019. (link)

^[2] Guest JF, Keating T, Gould D, et al Modelling the annual NHS costs and outcomes attributable to healthcare-associated infections in England BMJ Open 2020; 10:e033367. (link)

^[3] Poovelikunnel T, Gethin G, Humphreys H. Mupirocin resistance: clinical implications and potential alternatives for the eradication of MRSA. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2015;70(10):2681-2692. (link)

^[4] Surgical Site Infection Prevention: Key facts on decolonization of nasal carriers of Staphylococcus aureus. World Health Organization. (link)

^[5] Calderwood MS, Anderson DJ, Bratzler DW, et al. Strategies to prevent surgical site infections in acute-care hospitals: 2022 Update. Infect Control Hosp Epidemiol. 2023;44(5):695-720. (link)

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SOURCE: Ondine Biomedical Inc