Johns Hopkins Burn Center To Evaluate Ceragenin Antimicrobial Wound Dressing

Denver - Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc. announced that the company has entered into a research agreement with the Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine, under which the Johns Hopkins Burn Center will evaluate the efficacy of Ceragenix's Ceragenin Antimicrobial Wound Dressing in animal models of Pseudomonas aeruginosa and methicillin resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) infections. Pseudomonas aeruginosa is a leading cause of infection and septic mortality in burn patients. MRSA is a multidrug resistant staph infection that has become increasingly prevalent in the past few years.

"Burn patients have an increased risk for bacterial infections and these infections are becoming increasingly resistant to conventional therapies," stated Peter Elias, MD, Professor of Dermatology at the University of California, San Francisco and Ceragenix's Chief Scientific Officer. "Thermal injury to the patient's skin destroys not only the skin but also antimicrobial peptides found in the skin, which help prevent bacterial infections in healthy persons. There is an urgent need for new treatments to help reduce both the morbidity and mortality from such infections."

In the United States alone, approximately 80,000 people are hospitalized for burn wounds each year, of which approximately 6,500 die. Sepsis is the major cause of morbidity and mortality in these patients. Current management of burn sepsis relies on massive excision of burned skin and topical antibiotic regimens designed to eradicate the bacterial load within the wound. Sepsis is often refractory to treatment with systemic antibiotics due to emergence of multiresistant organisms.

CSAs were invented by Dr. Paul D. Savage of Brigham Young University's Department of Chemistry and Biochemistry, and exclusively licensed to Ceragenix. In in vitro data previously presented by Dr. Savage and other researchers, CSAs have been shown to mimic the activity of naturally occurring antimicrobial peptides and to have broad spectrum antibacterial activity.

"We are very pleased to be working with Dr. Milner and The Johns Hopkins Burn Center to evaluate our Ceragenin technology," stated Steven Porter, Chairman and CEO of Ceragenix. "This approach may significantly reduce the morbidity and mortality suffered by burn patients."

SOURCE: Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals, Inc.