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了挑战。NHS治疗220万慢性伤口患者，每年至少花费56亿GB的管理费用。抑制伤口愈合的一个主要因素是定植微生物引起的感染。未经治疗的感染阻碍愈合并经常传播；经治疗的感染几乎总是再次发生，这种感染循环可能需要手术甚至截肢。糖尿病和肥胖症等并存疾病的患病率越来越高，对抗生素耐药性日益严重的细菌问题的治疗选择有限，这意味着所有地区和年龄段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9%的成年糖尿病患者受到DFU的困扰；DFU的慢性感染导致丧失活动能力和显著疼痛。随着我们面临抗生素效果越来越差的前景，我们迫切需要新的方法来抑制DFU等慢性伤口的感染，以帮助愈合，从而减轻医疗服务面临的巨大负担。总部位于泰恩河畔纽卡斯尔的LightOx已经开发出分子，当被光激活时，通过产生活性氧物种(ROS)来摧毁细菌。我们还表明，这些分子能够破坏和抑制生物膜的生长--这是感染伤口的一种常见并发症，可能会抑制愈合。独一无二的是，细菌无法对ROS产生抗药性，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将与西北海岸的健康创新组织接触，接触NHS、慈善机构和患者团体的领导人，以了解创伤护理专业人员每天面临的巨大挑战，特别是DFU。我们将确定DFU创伤护理(和其他伤口类型)的独特特点，收集这些伤口患者以及治疗他们的护士和临床医生的反馈，并进一步为我们的技术制定市场准入计划。这些信息将使我们能够共同开发一种规范，LightOx可以利用该规范将他们的新型抗菌技术进步为一种可以改善这些痛苦伤口患者预后的产品。

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.