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| The company's approach to controlling bacterial contamination is a radical departure from traditional technologies such as anti-biotics or biocides. Their anti-biofilm compounds (furanones and derivatives of furanones) interfere with signalling systems employed by bacteria. Bacteria depend on these signalling systems to colonize surfaces, to form biofilms, and to maintain these biofilms once formed. Biofilms are the cause of at least 70% of bacterial infections. Biofilms are 1000 times more resistant than planctonic bacteria and many bacteria only produce virulence factors/toxins when they have formed biofilms. The company's technology specifically inhibits surface colonization by bacteria without killing them. This is a much more subtle, yet effective, way to avoid bacterial infections and bacterial contamination compared to anti-biotics and it is a method which seems to sidestep the problem of bacterial resistance and the generation of more bacterial resistance. Bacteria mutate and generate resistance as a result of confronting selective pressure. This pressure is very significant when the survival of the organism is threatened by an anti-biotic or a biocide. The selective pressure exerted by the company's compounds is much lower since bacteria are only prevented from settling on a particular surface. The seaweed where the company originally discovered the naturally-occurring anti-biofilm compounds has been able to prevent bacterial settlements for millions of years without causing bacterial resistance. Trials conducted by company also suggest that its anti-biofilm compounds do not appear to cause resistance. The concerns over increasing bacterial resistance and the resulting loss of efficacy of anti-biotics and biocides are so significant that the company technology, which has the potential to alleviate or overcome these problems, is likely to have broad commercial application. The company is currently focusing on contact lens and medical device coatings where the compounds are covalently attached to surfaces or copolymerised with the material. This type of coating can also be employed to other types of surfaces outside the medical field. The company’s compounds can also be delivered in solution and the company has successfully tested dissolved compounds in many applications in the medical, industrial and consumer fields. |
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