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Advanced dressing technology
Advanced dressing technology combats wound biofilm
ConvaTec has developed an innovative wound dressing to combat biofilm – a previously unmet clinical need which is one of the key causes of wound chronicity and delayed healing.
Antibiotic resistant bacteria inside a biofilm, 3D illustration
Biofilm is naturally produced by bacteria to protect themselves from external hostilities such as biocides, antibiotics and host immune cells. Its prevalence and influence on wound healing are now widely recognised. The annual cost to the NHS in managing hard-toheal wounds has been reported as being in excess of £5 billion. Since biofilm is one of the key barriers to healing, effective biofilm wound management is essential.
With the clinical implications of wound biofilm in mind, ConvaTec’s R&D team in Deeside, Flintshire embarked on a project to identify chemical and biological agents that could break down protective biofilm and subsequently expose wound bacteria to the antimicrobial action of silver. Nearly 250,000 chemical combinations were considered, and over a three-year period more than 60,000 of these were screened using rapid laboratory assays. A combination of three chemical agents, including silver, was found to be extremely effective in killing bacteria, including those that are antibioticresistant, in biofilm form.
This unique combination technology was subsequently incorporated into the company’s AQUACEL Extra dressing, which is manufactured at its sites in Rhymney (chemistry) and Deeside (textiling and packaging). The resultant dressing is known as AQUACEL Ag+ Extra.
Following initial product manufacture, both laboratory and clinical studies were performed to demonstrate product safety and effectiveness. In a pivotal safety study in 2015, led by Professor Sir Keith Harding of Cardiff University and the Welsh Wound Innovation Centre, the dressing was found to be effective at facilitating healing of infected and noninfected chronic leg ulcers that were likely compromised by biofilm.
By introducing the new dressing into management protocols involving hardto-heal wounds in healthcare facilities across Europe, the USA and Canada, the ConvaTec team observed widespread and rapid progression towards wound healing. Complete healing was observed in around 30% of wounds within a period of 4-7 weeks. A sub-set of the non-healing wounds that were unresponsive to systemic antibiotics showed dramatic improvement when the dressing was introduced. Consequently, the dressing can support initiatives to reduce the current overuse of antibiotics in chronic wound management.
