Cleaning up: fillers and coatings offer slow-release antiseptic for medical devices

Pertinax Pharma has announced the commercial launch of its Pertinax antimicrobial component material for medical devices - enabling controlled and sustained release of chlorhexidine.

The Pertinax brand includes a range of filler or coating materials which have been developed to deliver the antiseptic chlorhexidine over a sustained, controlled period.

Many medical devices are subject to colonisation by bacteria. In some instances, the body’s immune system can effectively eradicate these microbes, with few or no symptoms for the individual.

For others, however, the microbes multiply and spread, resulting in infection. In some cases, the bacteria can form a biofilm which is much more difficult for the body, or for medicines, to attack.

Conventional means of preventing and treating device-related infections frequently involve the use of topical or systemic antibiotics. However, antibiotics are under acute threat by the evolution of resistance among pathogenic bacteria, and there are ever more urgent calls to reduce antibiotic use in order to preserve the dwindling supplies of effective drugs for life-or-death situations.

The drug Pertinax delivers, chlorhexidine, is an antiseptic, and the risk of resistance to antiseptics is considered much less than that to antibiotics. Furthermore, resistance to antiseptics, when it does occur, is associated with sub-optimal doses of antiseptics.

The dose of chlorhexidine can be maintained at “clinically optimal levels” for the required period, according to the group. This, claims Pertinax, contrasts with existing chlorhexidine, and other antiseptic treatments, where the initial dose often has to be very high, sometimes eliciting adverse cellular response, and then dwindles rapidly, resulting in sub-optimal doses.

Pertinax has many applications in the medical device field, according to its manufacturer. Pertinax-containing coatings could be applied to catheters (venous and urinary), implants and stents to provide lasting protection against secondary bacterial infection and biofilm build up. The group says it can be embedded in material used in the fabrication of wound dressings, such as polyurethane foam, acrylic, silicone and alginate. It can also reportedly be included as a component of various dental materials, creating fillings and dental adhesives that prevent further tooth decay.

A similar approach can be taken with orthopaedic materials, creating polymer based cements that deliver a sustained dose of antiseptic, offering the opportunity to replace the antibiotic-laced cements that currently dominate the market. Pertinax can also be incorporated into a range of coatings yielding a surface that resists microbial colonisation, providing infection protection for a range of medical devices.

Pertinax Pharma says it is seeking collaboration with companies in the medical device sector, including wound care, dental, orthopaedic, catheter and stent manufacturers.