The Infection Prevention Strategy (TIPS) today announced Ondine Biomedical Inc.’s nasal Photodisinfection among the winners of the TIPS Top Innovations of the Year: 2019 as a breakthrough, infection-prevention technology.
TIPS is a Canadian independent, non-profit organization (infectiontips.org) established to improve infection control practices and patient outcomes globally by identifying and promoting promising innovations, ideas and processes (www.IC.tips). Around the world, TIPS global teams develop trials and conduct independent pilot studies to aid in the discovery of successful research to market technological advancements.
Ondine’s nasal Photodisinfection, Steriwave™ (formerly MRSAid™), targets a major source of healthcare-associated infections, eradicating infection-causing pathogens that reside in the noses of patients and caregivers and which are easily transmitted to wounds, surgical sites, hospital surfaces, and other patients. In minutes, nasal Photodisinfection decolonizes the nose of these bacteria, fungi, and viruses—including superbugs—significantly reducing the risk of infection with no adverse side-effects and no resistance generation.
Ondine’s nasal Photodisinfection is currently deployed as a pre-surgical standard of care at several Canadian hospitals, contributing to surgical site infection rate reductions by up to 78%. Over 50,000 patients have been treated, hundreds of infections prevented, and tens of millions of dollars in infection costs avoided since initial deployment. A recent analysis by Vancouver Coastal Health of the impact on spine surgery infection rates at Vancouver General Hospital led the study group to recommend routine use of nasal photodisinfection for the prevention of surgical site infections after finding:
- 78% reduction in the rate of surgical site infections in spine surgery patients;
- 1 infection was prevented (average $100,000 cost savings) for every 18 patients treated;
- Annual cost savings of $4.24 million from the avoidance of spine infections; and
- No adverse events were associated with the use of nasal Photodisinfection.
“We are pleased to be recognized by TIPS for our proven, non-antibiotic approach to the prevention of surgical site infections. The Ondine team is passionate about preventing hospital acquired infections. We are looking to bring this important new antimicrobial to hospitals across Canada and ultimately throughout the world,” said Carolyn Cross, Chairman and CEO. “We would like to thank TIPS for its recognition of the clinical benefit of our Photodisinfection technology and for its support of Canadian health innovations.”
About Ondine Biomedical Inc.
Ondine Biomedical Inc. is dedicated to the development of treatment and prevention therapies for a broad-spectrum of multidrug-resistant bacterial, viral and fungal infections. In addition to Ondine’s nasal photodisinfection therapy, other applications of the photodisinfection platform are under development, including treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis, treatment of burns and wounds, and disinfection of endotracheal tubes to reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia.
About TIPS: The Infection Prevention Strategy
TIPS is an impartial, not-for-profit party that provides support in identifying and vetting emerging technologies through a neutral platform. The mandate of TIPS is to advance new innovations, ideas and processes that make a difference in global health. The team at TIPS firmly believes that we should not have to wait years for promising technology, ideas, and processes to be implemented and accepted. TIPS has provided over $3,000,000 in Scientific Impact since 2016 and operates the Pan-Access journal: www.IC.tips