Widespread infections related to the use of medical devices have highlighted the inherent vulnerability of hospital procedures to bacterial invasion. In order to battle these costly and potentially deadly infections, a variety of second-generation devices, such as antimicrobial central venous catheters (CVCs), have been engineered to incorporate slow-release antibiotics or metal ions onto the device surface. Although many of these antimicrobial products have come into use, they have limited efficacy and an insufficient lifespan for many applications. In addition, clinicians have been hesitant to use devices with coatings that release antimicrobial agents into the blood stream due to concerns over systemic toxicity and the development of drug resistance. In order to address the remaining clinical need for antimicrobial medical devices, SteriCoat founders have been developing permanent antimicrobial coatings that may be applied to a wide range of medical devices. The novelty and commercial potential of our technology has been recognized throughout the entrepreneurial community through awards such as first place in both the MIT 100K and the Oxford University business plan competitions. Our process of permanently attaching custom-designed, broad- spectrum antimicrobial peptides (AmPs) to versatile coatings will enable us to overcome the inherent scientific limitations of existing slow-release coatings such as limited long-term efficacy, systemic toxicity, and the development of bacterial resistance. In this application, SteriCoat is designing optimized agents for permanent coatings to prevent the infection of medical devices of any size, shape or material. This coating will overcome the inherent scientific limitations of existing slow-release technologies.
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