New way of treating bacterial infections acclaimed
11 November 2010
Nowadays nearly everyone is aware that antibiotics are becoming less and less effective in the treatment of disease as bacterial resistance to them grows stronger and stronger. However, an innovation developed in the West of Scotland could soon see alternative technology resulting in more effective treatments and also contributing to the prevention of hospital "superbugs" such as MRSA.
Bacteriophage - a virus that "eats" bacteria - was first identified in 1917. The water-borne virus infects specific bacteria but is inactive towards anything else and, importantly, is harmless to humans, animals and plants. The use of phage throughout the world in both the East and West has been widespread but, as naturally occurring products, they were not patentable unless they were genetically modified. However, such modification would make regulation problematic and this, together with the difficulty of being able to permanently locate them where they were required plus the development of antibiotics, resulted in failure to recognise the potential of phage and therefore little or no interest in their commercial production. This is about to change thanks to work by Dr Mike Mattey of the University of Strathclyde, Glasgow who has succeeded in localising, stabilising and patenting phage such that it may now be used in active management of bacterial disease. This success has resulted in the formation of a spin-out company, FixedPhage, of which Dr Mattey is Chief Scientific Officer.
Areas of application for the technology include in food, agriculture, horticulture, veterinary and human medicine, decontamination and packaging. For now however concentration will be on wound dressings and wound care products where bacteriophage can play a part in preventing MRSA infection and where results can be achieved rapidly.
Accepting the Nexxus Life Science Innovation Award at a ceremony in Glasgow on 10 November, Dr Mattey said, "By using "corona discharge" - a process widely used in the printing industry to allow attachment of prints and dyes - we have managed to retain the antimicrobial potency of phage while increasing its stability.
"Pre-clinical trials have already been undertaken on a prototype wound closure and results have been excellent. Over the next 18 months we aim to develop and test additional products in conjunction with targeted companies, and start manufacturing through a soon-to-be spun out company, FixedPhage. The Nexxus Innovation Award is hopefully just the first recognition of the potential of our technology and we are very excited to receive this vote of confidence from our peers."
Graeme Boyle, Director of Nexxus, said, "This innovation is a significant breakthrough in the escalating fight against bacterial disease. Once again Scottish scientists are at the forefront of world class scientific developments and our universities producing potentially world class companies."
Dr Mattey has over 35 years of experience in the field of microbial physiology and is one of Scotland's foremost authorities in biotechnology and has worked closely with industry since he started his career at the University of Strathclyde. He lives in Mauchline, Ayrshire.
Runners up in the Nexxus Life Science Innovation Award (West) were Centeo Biosciences, mLED, the Universities of Glasgow and Strathclyde in collaboration with the NHS, and the University of the West of Scotland in collaboration with the University of Strathclyde.
The Annual Nexxus Award for Life Science Innovation (West) was presented to Dr Mike Mattey of FixedPhage at an event held in Glasgow on 10 November 2010, attended by representatives of the West of Scotland life science community and at which the keynote speaker was Harriet Fear, CEO of One Nucleus Ltd, a not-for-profit, membership organisation for international life science and healthcare companies, owned by its members and based in Cambridge and London UK.
Winners in the other 2010 Nexxus Life Science Awards (West) categories were :-
- Nexxus Lifetime Achievement Award - Mr Kevin Moore, Business Therapies
- Nexxus Young Life Scientist of the Year - Dr Fiona Henriquez, University of the West of Scotland
- Nexxus Most Promising Young Life Science Company of the Year - Sistemic
For further information contact Jan Clark, Marketing Communications Manager, Nexxus T: 0141 330 1987, E : j.clark@nexxuscotland.com.
