A peer-reviewed pilot study at a Canadian critical care centre marks the first deployment of nasal photodisinfection in an intensive care setting.
Ondine Biomedical Inc (AIM:OBI, OTC:OBIMF) shares rose 8% to 11.85p after the company announced a peer-reviewed publication of a pilot study showing its Steriwave nasal photodisinfection therapy reduced pneumonia rates by 39.5% in intensive care unit patients.
The study, conducted at Royal Columbian Hospital in British Columbia and published in the journal Critical Care, recorded a fall in pneumonia incidence from 14.9 to 9.0 cases per 1,000 ICU patient-days in treated patients compared to a control group.
The reduction in pneumonia rate was associated with a statistically significant decrease in early cumulative nasal pathogen burden, and no intervention-related adverse events were detected.
Photodisinfection works by applying a light-activated antimicrobial agent to the nasal passage, killing pathogens without the use of antibiotics.
The study's authors highlighted the therapy's effectiveness against multidrug-resistant gram-negative bacteria, which account for approximately 67% of culture-positive ICU infections, including Pseudomonas aeruginosa and Klebsiella pneumoniae.
Nosocomial pneumonia, the term for hospital-acquired respiratory infection, is associated with an average of 13 to 21 additional ICU days, mortality rates of between 11% and 42%, and additional costs of between $56,000 and $102,000 per case.
Principal investigator Elizabeth Rohrs said the preliminary results suggested a simple five-minute nasal treatment could make a meaningful difference at scale, and that the next step was a multicentre randomised trial to confirm the findings.
Steriwave is already used in Canadian and UK hospitals to reduce surgical site infection rates; the SMURF feasibility pilot marks its first deployment in an ICU setting.