MRSA SCREENING SYSTEM BEING DEVELOPED BY ONDINE BIOPHARMA CORPORATION
- On Monday June 1, 2009, 12:29 am EDT
67 WALL STREET, New York - June 1, 2009 - The Wall Street Transcript has just published its Biotechnology Report report offering a timely review of the sector to serious investors and industry executives. This 107 page feature contains expert industry commentary through in-depth interviews.
In the following brief excerpt from the 107 page report, the CEO of Ondine Biopharma discusses the development by her company of a MRSA screening technology.
TWST: Would you explain the process that is used to determine whether or not your therapy should be used?Mrs. Cross: There are companies that are in existence today like Becton-Dickinson, Cepheid and others developing rapid screening diagnostic tests that recognize specific gene sequences that are associated with MRSA and other pathogens. Normally, it would take at least 24 hours to grow up a culture in a Petri dish, but because of these new technologies, it takes as little as two hours for healthcare workers and hospital administrators to understand whether these pathogens are being carried in by new patients to the hospital.
TWST: What stage are you at now with MRSAid?Mrs. Cross: MRSAid is currently approved in Canada and in Europe. We have leveraged our existing Periowave product, as well as regulatory and clinical trial experience to get those approvals. We are currently working with Canadian hospitals and our research partners, such as the University College London, UCL, in the UK in order to determine the appropriate protocols for how best to use this product in large hospital settings. This product is very effective at destroying bacteria without generating resistance in the bacteria themselves - the bane of standard antibiotic therapy We are looking for a strategic partner to help us with commercializing this product.
TWST: How far has the periodontitis product, Periowave. come?Mrs. Cross: Periowave System was introduced in Canada three years ago. During this time, numerous sales and marketing strategies were tested prior to launching in the US market. Some clinicians are now deploying Periowave on a daily basis and the average clinician is using it on a weekly basis. This would make for some very significant numbers when extrapolated into potential sales in the US market. These results certainly confirm that our photodynamic disinfection system is an important new tool that enables our dental clinicians to provide superior patient outcomes. We are looking forward to the launch in the US market, pending a successful outcome with the FDA. We are in the midst of completing the FDA submission for Periowave.
TWST: Are Periowave and MRSAid both based on the same platform technology?Mrs. Cross: Yes, these products are both based on our platform Photodisinfection Technology, which is also known as antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy (aPDT).
