Life sciences company Ondine Biomedical announced Friday the expansion of the availability of its Steriwave nasal photodisinfection technology in various hospitals across Canada.
The AIM-traded company said the technology aims to curb the prevalence of healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) and address the growing antimicrobial resistance (AMR) crisis.
It said the most recent facility to adopt this solution was the Queen Elizabeth II Health Sciences Center in Halifax – Nova Scotia’s largest hospital and a facility affiliated with Dalhousie University.
The board said the situation with HAIs in Canada is concerning, with one in nine patients in Canadian hospitals developing an HAI, resulting in about 12,000 deaths annually.
At the same time, the problem of HAIs was exacerbated by increasing cases of AMR, rendering some widely used antibiotics useless.
As a result, one in every 19 deaths in Canada could be due to antibiotic-resistant infections.
From an economic perspective, the financial burden of AMR on the Canadian healthcare sector is expected to increase significantly by 2050, from $1.4 billion to an estimated $7.6 billion per year.
“It is extremely pleasing that Steriwave is now available in hospitals across coastal Canada, providing patients with improved protection against post-operative infections,” said CEO Carolyn Cross.
“This new hospital deployment demonstrates Steriwave’s growing status as an effective alternative to topical antibiotics for infection prevention that can be easily integrated into existing hospital workflows.
“In the US, we are continuing to advance our Phase 3 trial in collaboration with HCA Healthcare, who are providing invaluable input and support.”
At 1116 BST, Ondine Biomedical shares were up 10.21% at 7.99p.
Reporting by Josh White for Sharecast.com.
“Travel aficionado. Twitter scholar. Writer. Extreme coffee guru. Evil pop culture fanatic.”