Customer discovery and market access planning for light-activated antimicrobial wound care product

伤口管理是一种“无声的流行病”，对全世界的卫生服务构成挑战。NHS治疗了220万患有慢性伤口的患者，每年至少花费56亿英镑。抑制伤口愈合的一个主要因素是由定植微生物引起的感染。未经治疗的感染会阻碍愈合并经常扩散;治疗过的感染几乎总是会再次发生，这种感染循环可能需要手术甚至截肢。糖尿病和肥胖症等合并症的患病率日益增加，以及细菌对抗生素耐药性问题日益严重的治疗选择有限，这意味着所有地区和年龄组的慢性感染伤口的发生率都在上升。糖尿病足溃疡（DFU）是一种特别具有挑战性的慢性伤口，约占所有成年糖尿病患者的9%; DFU的慢性感染导致活动能力丧失和显著疼痛。当我们面对抗生素越来越不有效的世界的前景时，我们迫切需要新的方法来抑制慢性伤口（如DFU）中出现的感染，以帮助愈合，从而减轻医疗保健服务所面临的巨大负担。总部位于泰恩河畔纽卡斯尔的LightOx开发了一种分子，当被光激活时，通过产生活性氧（ROS）来破坏在伤口上定植的细菌。我们还表明，这些分子能够破坏和抑制生物膜的生长-这是感染伤口的常见并发症，可以抑制愈合。独特的是，细菌无法对ROS产生抵抗力，因此，LightOx看到了他们的新型光激活分子作为下一代抗菌技术的巨大潜力，以应对日益增长的慢性伤口感染负担。在这个可行性项目中，LightOx将与Health Innovation North West Coast合作，和患者群体了解伤口护理专业人员每天面临的巨大挑战，特别关注DFU。我们将确定DFU伤口护理（和其他伤口类型）的独特特征，收集来自这些伤口患者以及治疗他们的护士和临床医生的反馈，并进一步制定我们技术的市场准入计划。这些信息将使我们能够共同开发一个规范，LightOx可以使用该规范将他们的新型抗菌技术发展成为一种产品，可以改善这些疼痛伤口患者的结果。

The management of wounds is a "silent epidemic" that is challenging health services worldwide. The NHS treats 2.2 million patients with a chronic wound, the management of which costs at least £5.6 billion each year. A major factor inhibiting wound healing is infections caused by colonising microbes. Untreated infections prevent healing and often spread; treated infections almost always re-occur and this cycle of infection can necessitate surgery and even amputation. The increasing prevalence of co-morbidities like diabetes and obesity, and limited treatment options for the increasing problem of bacteria resistant to antibiotics means that incidence of chronically infected wounds is rising in all geographies and age groups. Diabetic foot ulcers (DFUs) are a particularly challenging chronic wound, afflicting around 9% of all adult diabetics; chronic infections of DFUs result in loss of mobility and significant pain. As we face the prospect of a world where antibiotics are increasingly less effective, we urgently need new modalities that can inhibit infections that arise in chronic wounds such as DFUs to aid healing and, thus, lower the enormous burden faced by healthcare services.LightOx, based in Newcastle-upon-Tyne, have developed molecules that, when activated by light, cause the destruction of bacteria that colonise wounds through the generation of reactive oxygen species (ROS). We have also shown that these molecules are capable of disrupting and inhibiting the growth of biofilms -- a common complication of infected wounds that can inhibit healing. Uniquely, bacteria are unable to become resistant towards ROS, and hence, LightOx see great potential for their novel light-activated molecules as the next generation of antibacterial technology for the growing burden of infected chronic wounds.In this feasibility project, LightOx will engage Health Innovation North West Coast to access leaders in the NHS, charities, and patient groups to understand the huge challenges that woundcare professionals face on a daily basis, with a particular focus on DFUs. We will determine the unique characteristics of DFU woundcare (and other wound types), gather feedback from patients suffering from these wounds and the nurses and clinicians who treat them, and further develop market access plans for our technology. This information will enable us to co-develop a specification that LightOx can use to progress their novel antibacterial technology into a product that can improve outcomes for sufferers of these painful wounds.