While vancomycin is highly potent against free living or planktonic MRSA bacteria, it is unable to eradicate the MRSA bacteria in the form of biofilms. In contrast, CSA-13 was able to completely eradicate the MRSA biofilm at a very low concentration and showed a greater than 100 fold effect in this model relative to vancomycin.
Biofilms are slime-like colonies of bacteria that are responsible for many of the nearly one million medical device related infections each year and are believed to be responsible for approximately 65% of chronic infections.
The testing was performed by MBEC BioProducts, an independent testing laboratory located in Calgary, Canada, that has developed specialized methods and devices for testing the efficacy of compounds against biofilms.
MRSA infections are of growing concern as approximately 70% of all staphylococcus infections in persons admitted to hospitals are now resistant to the methicillin class of antibiotics.
“We are very pleased with the results of this testing,” stated Steven Porter, Ceragenix’s chairman and CEO. “Ceragenix continues to pursue the development of an antimicrobial coating that may be applied to medical devices to help reduce the morbidity and mortality caused by infections related to their use.”