Vancouver, Canada, Dec. 15, 2021 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- AIM listed life sciences company, Ondine Biomedical, has appointed Professor Trevor Jones CBE FMedSci to lead a new advisory board on the use of its pioneering photodisinfection based technology to prevent and treat COVID-19. Ondine’s non-antibiotic antimicrobial technology, called photodisinfection, rapidly destroys pathogens, including the SARS-CoV-2 virus, without causing resistance. Ondine’s COVID-19 advisory board consists of leading UK experts in the transmission, prevention, and treatment of COVID-19.
Professor Jones is a long-standing adviser to the UK Government on public health matters and has worked extensively on the COVID-19 pandemic response. He is also currently a visiting Professor at King’s College London, and Advisor to the Academy of Pharmaceutical Sciences (APS). Professor Jones has decades of experience in the pharmaceutical industry, including as Head of R&D at the Wellcome Foundation and as Director General of the APBI.
Ondine’s CEO, Carolyn Cross, commented, “We are delighted that Professor Trevor Jones is joining us to coordinate our COVID-19 advisory board. The research we have announced already this year suggests that our photodisinfection technology is a promising treatment for COVID-19, and we look forward to pushing forward with new research, particularly in the UK, in 2022.”
Photodisinfection therapy, which has been proven in Canadian hospitals and clinics over the past decade, can treat and prevent multidrug resistant infections. Ondine's development pipeline, which includes products to reduce hospital and other healthcare associated infections, has more recently been directed against the SARS-CoV-2 virus variants driving the COVID-19 pandemic.
The nose and upper airway have been identified as ideal breeding grounds and reservoirs COVID-19, with the nose being the area with the highest viral load.[i] Ondine’s photodisinfection therapy, Steriwave™, can rapidly and painlessly eradicate pathogens in the nose, helping to eliminate a leading source of SARS-Cov-2 infections and transmissions.[ii]
The Steriwave photodisinfection process works by using a specific wavelength of laser light to activate photosensitive compounds placed inside the nose. This combination treatment rapidly destroys the cell membranes and surface proteins of pathogens. Steriwave is effective against all variants of the SARS-CoV-2 virus.
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About Ondine Biomedical Inc.
Ondine Biomedical Inc. is a Canadian headquartered, medical device company led by founder and CEO, Carolyn Cross. Ondine has developed a patented, painless, photodisinfection technology platform used in treatment and prevention therapies for a broad-spectrum of pathogens – including multidrug-resistant strains. Photodisinfection is a targeted antimicrobial which uses non-thermal light to activate a photosensitive agent. In a few minutes, this light-based therapy destroys the pathogens’ cell membranes and surface proteins through an oxidative burst without any impact on human tissue.
Ondine has a pipeline of products, based on its patent protected photodisinfection platform, in various stages of development. Products include treatment of chronic rhinosinusitis, decolonisation of infections in burns and wounds, disinfection of endotracheal tubes to reduce the incidence of ventilator-associated pneumonia and most recently, the development of topical antiviral therapy for the upper respiratory tract to reduce viral titres and transmission of respiratory viruses (e.g., SARS-CoV-2, influenza, RSV, etc.). Ondine’s technology is approved in a number of jurisdictions and has been awarded the CE mark, as well as Qualified Infectious Disease Product and Fast Track status in the US by the FDA.
Sources:
[i] Nasal and Pharyngeal Colonization by Bacterial Pathogens: A Comparative Study between Preclinical and Clinical Sciences Medical Students.
Nasal ciliated cells are primary targets for SARS-CoV-2 replication in the early stage of COVID-19.
[ii] Nasal Decolonization Keeps COVID-19 at Bay
