BEDFORD, England, May 23 /PRNewswire/ -- Insense Ltd, a UK biotechnology company, announced successful clinical trial results for “Oxyzyme(R)”, a new product for advanced treatment of chronic wounds. Chronic wounds typically arise from circulatory problems in the elderly, pressure sores from immobilized patients and complications of diabetes. Many of these wounds do not heal for months or years, if ever. They present a growing and costly problem for healthcare providers.
The Oxyzyme(R) system provides unique capabilities in preparation of the wound bed for healing. The system, contained within a hydrogel dressing, cleans the wound, produces oxygen, which has been shown to play a vital role in healing, and releases small amounts of iodine to kill bacteria and other microbes. Oxyzyme(R) works like no other woundcare treatment, by active production and release of multiple factors which are known to be important to wound healing.
The clinical trials were conducted under the supervision of one of the leading international woundcare experts, Prof. R. Gary Sibbald, head of the Toronto Wound Healing Centres. The trials showed improvement and healing of a surprisingly large number of wounds in just four weeks. Some wounds had been present for over a year. Generally, new products in such trials would be considered successful if a third of the wounds treated improved. In the case of Oxyzyme(R) two thirds of the wounds treated in the Toronto trials improved.
According to Dr. Sibbald, “The Oxyzyme platform is a fundamentally new approach to moist wound healing that shows exciting promise in difficult to heal chronic wounds.”
A variant of Oxyzyme(R), with increased antimicrobial potency, is due to enter clinical trials later in the year. Laboratory tests have demonstrated the potential effectiveness of these products against several strains of wound bacteria, including MRSA.
Results from rigorous, independent testing of the antimicrobial action of these dressings were recently presented at the prestigious Symposium on Advanced Wound Care in San Diego, California (April 21-24, 2005).
Notes to Editors:
Insense Limited is a biotechnology company developing a range of products for improved treatment of wounds and skin conditions. The Company is a spin out from Unilever plc and is funded by Unilever Ventures, Stewart Newton, Oxford Technology VCT and other leading venture capital firms. The company was founded by Prof. Paul Davis, a leader in the field of manipulating enzymes and other proteins for therapeutic and other applications. Prof. Davis was one of the scientists who founded Unipath and developed much of the patented technology which led to the first widely available home pregnancy test.
Insense technology is based upon production of therapeutic agents in place and controlled release of such agents to the wound and skin. This allows controlled administration of agents which are unstable in their native state. Oxygen, for example, is a well-documented therapy for healing of wounds but it is very difficult to administer continuous oxygen in place in the form of a discrete dressing. Insense has developed a proprietary technology which can generate oxygen and other dissolved gases in place to facilitate a range of wound and skin therapies.
Insense Ltd
CONTACT: For further information, please contact: Insense Limited: Prof.Paul Davis, Chairman paul.davis@insense.co.uk Tom Saylor,Acting CEO tom.saylor@insense.co.uk Tel: +44-1234-782-870