Ondine Biomedical Inc. (LON: OBI), the Canadian life sciences company pioneering light-activated antimicrobial treatments, announces that it has made significant progress with the commercial roll-out of its novel nasal decolonization technology, Steriwave^®, in both Canada and the UK. Steriwave is a simple 5-minute procedure that reduces healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) by rapidly decolonizing the nose without the use of antibiotics or generating antimicrobial resistance (AMR).

In the UK, two of the largest NHS Trusts, King’s College Hospital NHS Trust and Leeds Teaching Hospitals NHS Trust, are initiating Steriwave treatment prior to surgery. Recently Ondine announced that has partnered with Mölnlycke Health Care, a world-leading MedTech company that specializes in innovative solutions for wound care and surgical procedures, to bring Ondine’s Steriwave® nasal decolonization technology to the United Kingdom, EU, and Middle East markets.

In Canada, Steriwave is being used routinely in five (half) of the country’s top 10 largest hospitals: Royal Alexandra (Alberta), The Ottawa Hospital – Civic Campus (Ontario), Vancouver General (BC), University of Alberta Hospital, and the Queen Elizabeth II Hospital (Nova Scotia).[i] In the last few months, five additional Canadian healthcare facilities have started using Steriwave to decolonize patients undergoing orthopedic surgery. These include University Hospital of Northern British Columbia, Royal Inland Hospital, Eagle Ridge Hospital, Okanagan Health Surgery Centre, and Hawkesbury General Hospital.

Steriwave is also being used in all five of British Columbia’s Health Authorities and benefitting from expanding regional adoption. For example, Royal Inland is the fourth hospital in Canada’s British Columbia Interior Health Authority to adopt Steriwave alongside Kelowna General, Penticton Regional, and Kootenay Boundary. Eagle Ridge Hospital became the third hospital to embrace Steriwave in the Fraser Health Authority, following Burnaby Hospital, one of the largest hospitals outside the city of Vancouver and the Royal Columbian Hospital, which will be the first hospital to trial Steriwave to prevent infections in ICUs. The four major hospitals in the Vancouver Coastal Health Authority – the first to adopt nasal photodisinfection – have deployed Steriwave in their presurgical infection prevention protocols.

Nicole Walby, Clinical Operations Manager at Interior Health Authority, commented:

“Steriwave has been fully embraced by patients and staff alike, with patients and their families feeling reassured by the added protection. It’s made a noticeable difference at our facility, bringing a sense of ease and comfort to an otherwise serious environment. Preventing surgical site infection through important tools such as Steriwave is a top priority for our clinicians in upholding and improving patient experiences.”

One in nine hospital patients in Canada gets an HAI resulting in approximately 12,000 deaths a year.[ii] HAIs are also becoming harder to treat due to rising rates of AMR which are making some commonly used antibiotics ineffective.[iii] This has meant that one in 19 deaths in Canada is now attributable to antibiotic-resistant infections.[iv] The cost of AMR to the Canadian healthcare sector is also projected to increase from $1.4 billion to $7.6 billion per year by 2050.^[v]

Steriwave is a novel antimicrobial treatment that uses a proprietary light-activated agent to decolonize the nose and rapidly eliminate infection-causing pathogens. The agent is applied to each nostril using a nasal swab and then illuminated with a specific wavelength of red light. The light activates the photodynamic agent, causing an oxidative burst that destroys infection-causing bacteria, viruses and fungi in a single, 5-minute treatment. The process works so rapidly that pathogens do not have the opportunity to develop resistance, making it a viable alternative to antibiotics.

[1] Definitive Healthcare: “Top 10 Largest Canadian Hospitals” https://www.definitivehc.com/resources/healthcare-insights/top-largest-canadian-hospitals

[2] https://cupe.ca/health-care-associated-infections-backgrounder-and-fact-sheet

[3] Poovelikunnel T, Gethin G, Humphreys H. Mupirocin resistance: clinical implications and potential alternatives for the eradication of MRSA. J Antimicrob Chemother. 2015 Oct;70(10):2681-92. doi: 10.1093/jac/dkv169. Epub 2015 Jul 3.

[4] Healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance in Canadian acute care hospitals, CCDR 49(5) – Canada.ca

[5] Healthcare-associated infections and antimicrobial resistance in Canadian acute care hospitals, CCDR 49(5) – Canada.ca