Ultrathin dissolvable antibiofilm wound contact dressing with silver and gallium

The entire Research Plan contains proprietary privileged information that Imbed Biosciences requests not be released to personsoutside the Governmentexcept for purposes of review and evaluationTitleUltrathin dissolvable antibiofilm wound contact dressing with silver and gallium Summary The health care costs associated with treatment of chronic and burn wounds exceeds $billion annually in the U SBiofilms are implicated as a key factor responsible for delayed healing in chronic woundsMany wounds have complex surfaces and debridement can be challengingleaving biofilm fragments that remain resistant to antimicrobial therapy and act as a nidus for recrudescence of biofilmsThis underscores the unmet need for a cost effective and non cytotoxic antibiofilm wound dressingThere is currently no commercially available wound dressing that is clinically indicated for dispersal of biofilms in a wound bedImbed Biosciences Inchas developed and commercialized a unique microfilm wound contact dressing with silver nanoparticlesnamed MicroLyte Agbased on its patented polymeric multilayer nanofilm technologythat conforms to the micro contours of a wound bedprovides an intimate and sustained contact of active agents with the wound bedand requiresx lower concentration of silver ionscompared to conventional dressingsto achieve therapeutic efficacy without cytotoxicityMicroLyte Ag is highly effective in killing planktonic bacteria and has demonstrated efficacy in suppression of biofilm formationHoweverthe next challenge is to create a wound dressing that will stimulate dispersal of established biofilms in woundsOur preliminary data shows that Agand Gabiofilmwhen delivered through polyelectrolyte multilayer nanofilmachievedx greater reduction in biofilm CFU than a corresponding topical formulationThis research project will test the hypothesis that sensitization of microbes in biofilms by antibiofilm gallium would enable non cytotoxic levels of antimicrobial silver to kill biofilm encased bacteriaThere is currently no commercial wound dressing or topical formulation that employs gallium as an antibiofilm agentOur preliminary experiments have shown that MicroLyte Ag Ga prototypes can achieve up toLogCFU reduction inh old Paeruginosa biofilms and disperseof biofilm mass in vitrodespite releasingx lower levels of Agthan commercial antimicrobial dressings that did not exhibit any significant antibiofilm activityThis proposal seeks to advance development of a next generation antimicrobial antibiofilm wound dressing containing silver and galliumThe goal of this Phasefeasibility research is toAIMIdentify silver and gallium loadings in MicroLyte Ag Ga that exert antibiofilm activity against single and multispecies biofilms of Paeruginosa and Saureus without in vitro cytotoxicity andAIMEvaluate efficacy of MicroLyte Ag Ga in dispersal of preformed biofilms in splinted murine woundsFor this projectImbed has assembled a team of researchers with substantial expertise in biomaterialsAgarwalDalsinPranamiand AbbottmicrobiologyCzuprynskianimal wound modelsMcAnultyand clinical wound careMcAnulty and SchurrSuccessful completion of Phaseresearch will provide feasibility data for a Phaseproject to study dispersal of biofilms of multiple bacterial strains in murine porcine wound models NarrativeWound management presents a huge economic and healthcare burden in the U SThe research described in this SBIR application will lead to the realization of a new class of hybrid wound contact dressings that synergistically combine the benefits of antimicrobial and antibiofilm agents to aid woundbed preparationThe new wound dressings will reduce re occurrence of wound infectionsreduce revisits to clinics and hospitalsexpedite wound closurereduce use of antibioticsreduce nursing timelower patient painreduce length of hospital staysand reduce overall wound treatment costs