Vancouver, B.C. (PRWEB) May 08, 2012

The John Conly Innovation Academy Award was presented to Dr. Titus Wong of Vancouver General Hospital at the AMMI - CACMID Annual Conference held in Vancouver, BC. This inaugural award recognizes novel and creative strategies to improve patient safety and public health in Canada. Dr Wong presented the abstract titled Nasal Decolonization of Staphylococcus aureus with Antimicrobial Photodynamic Therapy (aPDT or photodisinfection) to two of Canada's leading expert groups, the Association of Medical Microbiology and Infectious Disease Canada (AMMI) and the Canadian Association of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (CACMID).

Dr. Titus Wong and his team at Vancouver General Hospital (VGH) won the John Conly Innovation Academy Award at the AMMI - CACMID Annual Conference for their implementation of a universal nasal decolonization program using the non-antibiotic photodisinfection based technology, MRSAid(TM), from Vancouver based company Ondine Biomedical Inc. Under this innovative project, patients undergoing major elective surgeries at VGH, including cardiac, spinal, orthopedic, thoracic, vascular, breast reconstruction, and neurological, were treated with MRSAid nasal decolonization therapy prior to surgery. Photodisinfection therapy instantly destroyed the Methicillin resistant staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Methicillin sensitive staphylococcus aureus (MSSA) from the patient's nose, the primary site of colonization.

The MRSAid photodisinfection project at VGH is the first deployment of a pre-surgical universal nasal decolonization protocol. To date, results have demonstrated patient safety, microbiological efficacy and high patient compliance rates of 99%. Traditional decolonization protocols involve the use of topical antibiotics which have demonstrated resistance formation(1) and patient compliance rates as low as 40%(2) Additionally, ease of workflow integration of the MRSAid photodisinfection system was demonstrated on this patient population of over 1,800. Photodisinfection rapidly destroys pathogens and associated virulence factors without the need for antibiotics, and without encouraging the formation and spread of antibiotic resistance.

Patients colonized with MRSA and MSSA are at risk of developing surgical site infections, which often lead to increased morbidity and mortality rates. Patients that develop infections after surgery are five times more likely to be readmitted to a hospital and twice as likely to die. On average, surgical site infections require an extended hospital stay of eight days in an acute care setting, and add hundreds of millions of dollars in additional costs to the Canadian healthcare system every year. The objective of this patient safety initiative is to significantly reduce surgical site infection rates.

Dr. Titus Wong and his team at VGH expect to complete this quality improvement project by the end of the year and will publish safety, microbiological efficacy, patient compliance and surgical site infection rates throughout 2013.

(1) Coates T, Bax R, Coates A (2009). Nasal decolonization of Staphylococcus aureus with mupirocin: strengths, weaknesses and future prospects. J Antimicrob Chemother. Jul;64(1):9-15. (2) Claxton, A. J., Cramer, J. & Pierce, C. (2001). A systematic review of the association between dose regimens and medication compliance. Clinical Therapeutics23, 1296310.

About Ondine Biomedical Inc. Ondine is developing non-antibiotic therapies for the treatment of a broad spectrum of bacterial, fungal and viral infections. The Company is focused on developing leading edge products utilizing its patented light-activated technology, primarily for the healthcare-associated infection (HAI) market. Photodisinfection provides broad-spectrum antimicrobial efficacy without encouraging the formation and spread of antibiotic resistance. The Company is based in Vancouver, British Columbia, Canada, with a research and development laboratories in Bothell, Washington, USA and Minneapolis, Minnesota. Please visit the Company's website at: http://www.ondinebio.com and http://www.ondineblog.com. For further information please contact us at: Ondine Biomedical Inc. info(at)ondinebio(dot)com

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MRSAid Photodisinfection Project Wins Innovation Award at Leading Canadian Infectious Disease & Microbiology Conference