CHD Bioscience's lead product can help mitigate increasing threat of HAIs

Oct 9 2013

According to a recent report issued by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC), every year more than two million people develop infections that are resistant to antibiotics. Specific healthcare-associated infections (HAIs) are classified as urgent threats and affect approximately 1.7 million people annually across the United States, leading to death in nearly 99,000 patients. In response to this growing problem, CHD Bioscience, a development-stage life science company, is working to help commercialize a family of new broad-spectrum antimicrobial products that have the ability to safely eliminate a wide range of bacteria, viruses and other pathogens without causing undue (or "excessive") harm to healthy cells or tissues.

"Infections are becoming more widespread in our society, and nowhere is this more evident than in healthcare facilities," said Michael K. Handley, chief executive officer, CHD Bioscience.  "Our company is committed to improving patients' lives by bringing innovation from the laboratory into real products and services that can address the growing demand to eradicate the pathogens that lead to the spread of infection."

VERIOX™, CHD Bioscience's lead product, has demonstrated unique safety and efficacy properties (both in vitro and in vivo) that can help mitigate the increasing threat of HAIs, including treating infections from the most resistant bacterial strains, such as methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), C. difficile spores and Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae (CRE). VERIOX is being developed for a wide variety of applications, including medical device disinfection and sterilization, surface disinfection, device coatings, hand sanitization and potential treatments for human / veterinary wound care.

Recently, preliminary independent testing conducted by ATS Labs in Minnesota has demonstrated VERIOX to be effective against destroying CRE bacteria on hard inanimate surfaces in as little as one minute. Testing confirmed that the antibiotic resistance profile of the organism tested was Carbapenem-Resistant Enterobacteriaceae. Additional testing following Good Laboratory Practices (GLP) will need to be conducted to support product registration and claims substantiation with the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency (EPA). 

"Results of the ATS Labs study using VERIOX demonstrated the novelty of our experimental product as it completely and rapidly destroyed all the deadly CRE bacteria," said Mr. Handley.  "These outcomes provide a significant step forward in the control of resistant pathogens."

CHD Bioscience is engaging in licensing opportunities with large multinational healthcare companies to bring these innovative antimicrobial products to market.