Ondine Biomedical Inc. confirmed that interest from hospitals in Canada has accelerated its opportunity to address the Intensive Care Unit (ICU) market. Already used in hospitals across Canada to reduce HAIs (healthcare-associated infections) in patients undergoing surgery, this move into the routine treatment of highly compromised patients in ICUs has the potential to significantly expand Steriwave®? usage in hospitals.

The opportunity for hospital cost savings by using Steriwave is very substantial. One study found that patients who develop an HAI in ICU typically spend 30 days in the hospital compared to around three days for non-HAI patients. The average daily cost for an ICU bed in Canada is $3,592, three times higher than a standard ward bed.

Longer ICU stays also lead to ongoing higher overall health costs. Similar to its outcomes for pre-operative nasal decolonisation of surgical patients, Ondine anticipates substantial cost savings for the hospital as well as a significant reduction in mortality rates. A large study involving nearly 75,000 patients, amounting to more than 280,000 patient days in 74 adult ICUs, was carried out in 2012 by HCA Healthcare, the US's largest hospital group, and demonstrated the effectiveness of daily nasal decolonisation for patients in ICUs.

The study found that universal nasal decolonisation using the antibiotic mupirocin reduced all-cause bloodstream infections by 44%. However, hospitals are becoming increasingly reluctant to routinely treat patients with mupirocin, the most commonly used standard of care, because of rising resistance rates of up to 80%, leaving few approved alternatives to this major antimicrobial resistance (AMR) problem. Ondine has regulatory approvals in Canada, Mexico, the UK, and Europe that cover using Steriwave in the ICU.

Steriwave works as a broad-spectrum antimicrobial that uses a photosensitizer solution and associated red activating light to destroy pathogens that colonise the nose and can spread to cause harmful infections. Unlike traditional antibiotics, Steriwave is immediately effective with a single five-minute treatment and does not trigger antimicrobial resistance (AMR). Steriwave has now been used in over 150,000 patient treatments, including at major hospitals across Canada and more recently in early-adopting NHS hospitals.