SAN DIEGO, Feb. 22, 2017 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- MatriSys Bioscience (MatriSys Bio) is pleased to announce the publication of breakthrough scientific results from the laboratory of Dr. Richard Gallo at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD) in the February 22 issue of Science Translational Medicine. The report describes the discovery of good bacteria from healthy human skin that produce molecules that kill disease causing bacteria such as Staphylococcus aureus (S. aureus) and MRSA. These good bacteria were formulated in a cream and used to successfully kill S. aureus on the skin of patients with atopic dermatitis (commonly referred to as eczema). Atopic dermatitis is a chronic inflammatory skin condition that is complicated by recurrent infections by S. aureus. The report describes that subjects with atopic dermatitis have an inability to resist colonization by the pathogen S. aureus due to a deficiency of specific strains of the good bacteria Staphylococcus epidermidis and Staphylococcus hominis.
Gallo and his colleagues showed that application of a cream containing these rationally selected “good” bacteria dramatically decreased S. aureus abundance. A small phase I clinical trial in which atopic dermatitis patient’s good bacteria with antimicrobial activity was grown, formulated in a skin cream that was applied once to the forearm of the same patient resulted in a dramatic decrease of S. aureus without damage to other beneficial bacteria and without toxicity.
“In the past, the eighteen million US patients with atopic dermatitis had limited therapeutic options,” said Mark S. Wilson, CEO of MatriSys. “This natural rebalance of the skin is a dramatic improvement over antibacterial therapy that kill not only pathogenic bacteria like S. aureus but also destroys the normal skin flora by friendly fire.”
A phase II clinical trial is currently underway. It involves 54 individuals with atopic dermatitis receiving the “universal” live biologic therapeutic Staphylococcus hominis strain A9 that is characterized in the UCSD publication, and under an exclusive license to MatriSys Bio, as producing novel antibacterial peptides with specific and potent anti-S. aureus activity.
MatriSys Bio strongly feels that the transplantation of harmless live bacteria will be a major modifier of clinical outcome. These recent scientific breakthroughs have broad applications and open an era where it may be possible to normalize skin conditions like eczema, acne and psoriasis with a transplant of rationally selected bacteria, and this, without side effects or toxicity as the bacteria are normally present on healthy skin.
About MatriSys Bioscience:
MatriSys Bioscience (MatriSys Bio) is a clinical stage Specialty Biopharmaceutical Company focused on developing and commercializing rational microbiome therapies for the top five dermatology and skin care conditions. Our foundational microbiome therapeutics platform is based on the pioneering work of Richard L. Gallo MD PhD, Professor and Chair, Department of Dermatology at the University of California, San Diego and the http://gallolab.ucsd.edu/. For more information, please visit http://www.matrisysbio.com/.