How antimicrobial hydrogel can revolutionize clinical treatments
Human care:
Amferia’s innovative, flexible hydrogel can be adapted to many medical applications. One of the first products we’re developing for our antimicrobial platform is a wound care dressing.
The soft, flexible Amferia antimicrobial hydrogel can be integrated with wound dressings of various shapes and sizes. The product we’re developing will be shelf-stable for up to eighteen months—and, when applied to wounds, will bind and kill bacteria for up to five days before dressings need to be changed.
Other potential treatments showing early promise include pre-surgery skin cleansing, spray-based products for wound care, and coatings for medical devices such as catheters and implants.
As antibiotics continue to be less effective against certain resistant bacterial strains, the potential market for this technology is enormous.
The potential market for this technology is enormous
Amferia’s hydrogel is a flexible solution that can be potentially adapted to multiple applications where killing bacteria is critical—with the added advantage that it kills even resistant bacteria. A few examples of potential applications are listed below. Some we are already developing. Others, we’re actively seeking partners to develop with us.
Amferia’s first product for human care is our antimicrobial hydrogel wound dressing. Amferia is developing several dressing formats that feature our patented hydrogel, starting with a non-adhesive hydrogel dressing for acute wounds, while pipeline products cater to the numerous needs within wound care while keeping the antimicrobial property intact.
When applied as a solid wound dressing pad, Amferia’s antimicrobial hydrogel can bind and kill 99.9% of bacteria, providing an effective, clean environment for wound recovery.
The global advanced wound care market is estimated to be 7 billion USD today and growing at a rate of 5% annually.
Amferia’s proprietary hydrogel acts as the contact layer to the wound, binding and killing bacteria while providing a moist environment conducive for wound healing.
Today, Amferia has ongoing clinical investigations in Europe and we are seeking CE marking and FDA clearance on this product.
The global advanced wound care market is estimated to be 7 billion USD today and growing at a rate of 5% annually.
Another potential application for Amferia hydrogel comes in the form of a patch that can clear the skin of bacteria before a surgical procedure. A recent study we conducted on human skin demonstrated that Amferia hydrogel kills up to 99.99% bacteria on skin surface within the first three hours of application.
Adhering a protective hydrogel patch to the incision site prior to surgery eradicates skin flora, providing a bacteria free site of surgery. In emergency wards, where patients may be waiting in a non-sterile environment prior to surgery, a bacteria-killing patch can reduce complications and potentially save lives.
The flexible nature of our hydrogel platform allows us to apply the patented bacteria-killing hydrogel in many forms—including an aerosol spray. Small particles of the antimicrobial hydrogel can be dispersed through an aerosol to cover broader areas of the skin and wounds. A pipeline product being developed at Amferia is a spray that can be applied directly to wounds or skin, especially deep wounds with high bacterial presence.
The spray system enables the same antimicrobial mode of action as the wound dressing while ensuring high surface area, which will enable eradication of bacteria from deep and uneven wounds.
This scientific basis for this product has been evaluated scientifically and published in a peer-reviewed journal.
Short-term implantable medical devices such as urinary catheters are widely used in hospitals and nursing homes to relieve urinary retention and incontinence.
In these types of medical devices, the most common and life-threatening complication is catheter associated urinary tract infections (CAUTI), which affect over 10 million patients every year with high economic cost and patient suffering. Antimicrobial resistance has made it difficult to treat CAUTI via conventional antibiotics.
With an increasingly ageing population and rising costs to treat CAUTIs, a strong need exists for innovative anti-bacterial catheters that prevent bacterial colonisation on the catheter walls.
In collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology, Amferia has begun ongoing research into enabling our technology as a whole catheter or as coatings to existing catheters. The base technology, amphiphilic antimicrobial hydrogel may be developed into tough silicone-like materials or can be tailored as coatings to silicone surfaces. Both these prospects are being tested today as proof-of-concepts and published in scientific articles.
Get in touch for partnership, licensing and distribution
Partnership:
Amferia is interested to engage in discussions with companies who have business interest in utilising our innovation in possible product combinations through partnership structures. Within wound care, Amferia has the possibility to offer finished or semi-finished products for commercial or distribution partnerships.
Please contact: Saba Atefyekta, Sales Director and Co-founder
Amferia is working in partnership with a manufacturer to produce a high volume of Amferia wound care dressings. Amferia currently operates a clinical production site in Mölndal, Sweden, for testing and evaluating these products. Informed by those results, we are building capacity for a high volume production of wound dressings with an established partner.
Addressing antibiotic resistance the sustainable way
Antibiotic resistance:
Over time, harmful bacteria continue to evolve. In what is rapidly becoming a health care crisis, many bacteria have already developed antibiotic resistance (ABR). Simple infections such as skin wound infections can become lethal. Today, across the world, many types of bacteria have evolved to an extent where none of our antibiotics are effective against them.
For example, Methicillin Resistant Staph. Aureus (MRSA) evolved from an ordinary bacteria. It has become what’s known as a “superbug,” resistant to many common antibiotics. A skin infection involving MRSA can develop life-threatening complications. MRSA is only one of many superbug strains. At current rates of microbial evolution, WHO warns, drug-resistant infection may kill more people than cancer by 2050.
Innovations such as Amferia’s focus on addressing antibiotic resistance through relying less on antibiotics and more on the roles of good hygiene, education on antibiotic use and smarter antimicrobial technologies that do not increase the risk of new resistance.
Using bio-inspired materials derived from our immune system to kill bacteria comes with numerous advantages. These materials can target bacteria without harming our own cells. They offer potent local action at the site of an infection, with no leaching into the body or environment.
In this context, Amferia’s innovation and wound care dressing is more than a plaster, but rather a new platform that aids and supports the mitigation of antibiotic resistance.
Amferia and Medspray awarded Eurostars Grant to develop Antimicrobial Spray for wound care
March 26, 2024
Amferia, specializing in antimicrobial peptide-hydrogel materials, and Medspray, a spray nozzle company renowned for its expertise in micro droplet spray technology, announce our joint success in securing a Eureka Eurostars grant. This grant will support our collaborative efforts to develop an advanced antimicrobial spray for wound care.
“With the growing need for new antimicrobial technologies to address bacterial infections, Amferia’s spray will be an important tool to fight life-threatening bacterial infections in skin and woundcare. The Eurostars funding is an important enabler for Amferia to accelerate the spray product development. We are inspired by the partnership with Medspray whose state-of-the-art microdroplet spray technology will be a key success factor for delivering the Amferia technology to patients in need across the globe ” -Anand Rajasekharan, CEO of Amferia.
The Eurostars program, dedicated to fostering collaborative research and development projects among SMEs across Europe, has awarded this prestigious grant to Sweden based Amferia AB and Netherlands based Medspray BV. This partnership underscores the shared commitment of both companies to leverage cutting-edge technologies and expertise to address a pressing healthcare challenge namely antimicrobial resistance.
Titled SURPAS (Treatment of SURgical wounds with a novel, innovative Peptide-hydrogel Antimicrobial wound Spray ), this project will focus on developing the spray, initially for surgical wound care with the ambition of infection prevention. The antimicrobial spray will harness the potent antimicrobial properties of peptide materials, offering a safe and targeted approach to preventing infections in wound care settings. Coupled with Medspray’s expertise in precision spray technology, the solution aims to deliver the peptide-hydrogel as micro droplet spray with optimal coverage and penetration, ensuring rapid and effective antimicrobial action without disturbing wound healing.
Han van Egmond, CEO of Medspray — “The combination of a low energy actuated, slow moving, fine mist combined with an antimicrobial peptide hydrogel, offers a potential solution for the fast growing antimicrobial resistance of bacteria, thereby contributing to patient comfort and reducing the related treatment costs.”
The Eurostars grant provides a significant boost to the collaborative efforts of Amferia and Medspray, enabling them to accelerate the development of their innovative antimicrobial spray for wound care. Beyond financial support, the grant opens doors to collaborative opportunities, knowledge exchange, and strategic partnerships within the European innovation ecosystem.
About Amferia
Amferia has developed a technology that kills 99,99% of bacteria, even resistant bacteria, without harming the body. The innovation is based on amphiphilic hydrogel with increased clinical stability, a material created after years of research in collaboration with Chalmers University ofTechnology in Sweden. Amferia’s first product offer is a wound-care dressing suitable for dry-to-low exuding wounds. The company’s anti-microbial platform solution can also be used on a wide range of wound care products, addressing antimicrobial solutions from minor skin injuries and post-operative wounds to chronic wounds, trauma, and burn wounds. Read more about the products, team, technology and publications at www.amferia.com
About Medspray
Medspray is a privately owned company in Enschede, theNetherlands. With its 40 employees Medspray focuses on the development and manufacturing of micro spray nozzles which creates an ultra-soft mist. Medspray’s slogan is: ‘tiny technology for a sustainable future.’ Medspray aims to contribute to a sustainable world by developing innovative spray nozzles for user-friendly health and physical care products. The applications for the Medspray ranges from soft mist inhalation products that will require small and slow moving droplets up to target the lungs, as well as to the Beauty, Home andPersonal care segments like fine fragrance sprays where larger droplets or aerosols are required. www.medspray.com
About Eurostars
Eurostars is a European funding program dedicated to supporting collaborative R&D projects led by SMEs (small and medium-sized enterprises) across Europe. By fostering innovation, collaboration, and cross-border partnerships, Eurostars aims to drive economic growth, strengthen competitiveness, and promote technological advancement within the European innovation ecosystem.
Han van Egmond, CEO, Medspray BV, han@medspray.com, +31 6 51 74 60 26
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Dr. Christian Nees joins as Clinical Advisor for Amferia's Animal Wound Care
February 19, 2024
Amferia AB welcomes Dr. Christian Nees, veterinary surgeon and wound specialist, as Clinical Advisor for Animal Wound Care.
Dr. Nees is a veterinary surgeon with 35 years of experience in surgery and wound care. He was previously the head of Animal Health Hospital in Weingarten (Kleintierzentrum Weingarten), Germany. Today, he coaches colleagues and wound care specialists in veterinary care. A leading voice in animal health in Germany, Dr. Nees built and led Kleintierzentrum Weingarten as one of the best hospitals for small animals in Germany. Dr. Nees will support and advise the Animal Health team at Amferia with medical and clinical affairs and clinical testing for further development and strengthening of Amferia’s portfolio of Animal wound care products.
Anand Kumar Rajasekharan, CEO of Amferia− “It is a true honour to welcome Dr. Nees as an Advisor to Amferia. Amferia has had the privilege of collaborating with Dr. Nees on clincal testing over the last 4 years and his guidance has been important for our product development. We now look forward to jointly enable good products for addressing wound care in animal health.
Parvin Zamani joins Amferia as the Director of Partnerships & Strategy
February 13, 2024
Amferia AB welcomes Parvin Zamani as the Director of Partnerships & Strategy. Parvin comes from an impressive background in Business Development within the life-science industry.
Parvin has a solid background in various leadership roles within Sales and Business Development from both public and private life-science and biotech companies covering pharma, medtech and diagnostics, spanning over 25 years. Some of Parvin’s key roles over the years have been Vice President of BD & Sales at DBI, Market Access Director at Allergan, Associate Director, Compliance and Operations Regulatory Affairs Lead at MSD, BD Manager Large Scale projects at Philips Healthcare and Sales leadership roles at various med-tech companies including Johnson & Johnson, Medtronic and Bactiguard.
At Amferia, Parvin will be responsible for accelerating the global Animal Health portfolio with orchestrating strategic partnerships with leading veterinary manufacturers and distributors. Her extensive knowledge in deal orchestration, market access and on-the-ground sales will be important for Amferia’s scale-up journey in animal wound care.
Anand Kumar Rajasekharan, CEO of Amferia − “It is a true honour to work with Parvin, whose impressive knowledge of the field and guidance greatly strengthens Amferia’s position as a competent and cutting-edge SME with precision in its numbers. We look forward to jointly grow the company, as we set our sights on global growth of Amferia in animal wound care.
Parvin Zamani, Director of Partnerships & Strategy at Amferia − “I’m so proud and passionate about my collaboration with Amferia and I look so much forward to contributing to Amferia’s exciting scale up journey”
For more information, please contact: Anand Kumar Rajasekharan,
CEO, Amferia, +46 76 298 12 38
anandk@amferia.com
Amferia AB signs major contract with Orkla Wound Care
December 4, 2023
Amferia has recently signed an exclusive Animal Health Private Label License and Purchase Agreement with Orkla Wound Care covering the Nordic region, Germany, Spain and Portugal for a period of 3 years with a possibility for extension.
Anand Rajasekharan, CEO of Amferia — “Orkla Wound Care’s market leadership in wound care will spearhead Amferia’s vision of addressing antibiotic resistant wound infections in animal health. We are inspired by this partnership, which will bring our innovation together with a leading brand to a market where there is considerable need for new solutions. Amferia’s innovation has already received strong interest and positive feedback from veterinarians from across Europe, who immediately notice the potential of our new antimicrobial material within wound and infection management.”
The joint partnership with Orkla Wound Care will enable Amferia’s technology, through Orkla leading brand Snögg Animal Care, to reach the wider European veterinary market where wound care and infection prevention is of prime importance. This has been intensified with the growing threat of antibiotic resistant infections. Amferia and Orkla Wound Care’s partnership will build on extensive data and feedback from Amferia’s clinical testing across Europe. The joint efforts will aim to market the products under the brand Snögg Animal Care from 2024.
Maria Lundman Hedberg, CEO of Orkla Wound Care— “We are excited about our collaboration with Amferia and bringing their innovative products to market under the brand Snögg Animal Care. Amferia's pioneering antimicrobial wound dressing aligns seamlessly with our dedication to providing cutting-edge solutions to veterinarians through our Snögg Animal Care range. This collaboration strengthens our position as a leader in wound care, both for humans and animals.
About Amferia
Amferia's antimicrobial amphiphilic hydrogel kills bacteria, even resistant bacteria without harming the body. The material was developed through several years of research in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology and the first product from this technology platform is a wound-care dressing for dry-to-low exuding wounds. Amferia's innovative, anti-microbial solution can be used on wide-ranging wounds from simple skin injuries, post-operative wounds to chronic wounds and trauma / burn wounds. The WHO predicts that antibiotic-resistant infections, including those from wounds could become one of the leading causes of both illness and death over the next ten years. The material is being investigated for continuous development in several other areas, including sprays for deep wounds, and coatings for implants and a variety of catheters. Read more about the products, team, technology and publications at www.amferia.com
About Orkla Wound Care
Orkla Wound Care has a long tradition of developing, manufacturing and distributing market leading products within wound care and first aid. Orkla Wound Care is a part of the Orkla group, a public listed company on the Norwegian Stock Exchange, known for its active portfolio management targeting fast-growing consumer segments and markets.
Amferia AB is happy to announce the appointment of Ingvar Karlsson as the Chief Financial Officer. Ingvar has extensive background in financial management within a broad area including the life-science industry.
Ingvar has a solid background as the CFO from both public and private companies covering Life science and Medtech, Automotive and premium consumer goods spanning over 40 years. Today, he works both on the Board of cutting-edge life-science SME’s as well as provide service as CFO for their successful growth. Ingvar’s extensive knowledge in financial management, supply chain processes and capital planning of life science companies, will be important for Amferia’s scale-up journey in both human and animal wound care.
Anand Kumar Rajasekharan, CEO of Amferia − “It is an honour to work with Ingvar, whose impressive knowledge of the field and guidance greatly strengthens Amferia’s position as a competent and cutting-edge SME with precision in its numbers. We look forward to jointly grow the company, as we set our sights on global growth of Amferia both in human and animal wound care.
Ingvar Karlsson, CFO of Amferia − “I look forward working with the team at Amferia. The company has a very interesting journey ahead. Amferia is en route towards internationalization and distribution of its products through partnerships in multiple countries. I am glad to work with companies like Amferia improving healthcare for both humans and animals. ”
Amferia selected as one of Sweden’s best, young deep technology companies by Ny Teknik’s prestigious 33-listan
November 20, 2023
The significance of the list is that Amferia, as one among the 33 young Swedish companies is deemed to have high potential to become future growth companies. The companies selected to be on the list after rigorous evaluation by the jury, are judged to be innovative, have scalable business models and have the potential to grow quickly on the Swedish and global market.
Infections are a difficult healthcare problem, exacerbated by antibiotic resistance. Amferia’s innovative antimicrobial material is an effective, safe and sustainable way to address life threatening bacterial infections, especially within the filed of medical devices. This is equally important in both human and animal health, and we are bringing products built on our technology rapidly to the market.
The recognition by Nyteknik is an important achievement for Amferia attesting to our measured yet rapid progress of a deep technology breakthrough innovation to the clinic. And most importantly, our deepest gratitude to our collaborators in the clinics who clearly saw the need and importance of our technology in addressing an acute global healthcare threat.
Our colleague Edvin Blomstrand now holds a PhD in Materials Science from Chalmers
September 26, 2023
Amferia is thrilled to announce that our exceptional Research Engineer, Edvin Blomstrand, has successfully defended his doctoral thesis titled "Amphiphilic Hydrogels Functionalized with Antimicrobial Peptides for Wound Care" at Chalmers tekniska högskola. He now proudly holds the esteemed title of Doctor of Philosophy in Materials Science. During his PhD journey, Edvin's contributions have played a pivotal role in shaping our product development at Amferia. We couldn't be more excited to have him continue this remarkable journey with us. With him on board, we are prepared more than ever to pursue our goals, push the boundaries of innovation, and make a meaningful impact in our field.
Join us in congratulating Dr. Blomstrand on this brilliant achievement, and we look forward to the amazing things to accomplish together in the future!
A warm welcome to Amferia’s new Board Members
September 4, 2023
We are proud to introduce the addition of three remarkable individuals to our Board of Directors. Each new member brings a wealth of diverse experience and knowledge to our team which will further strengthen Amferia’s position in addressing antibiotic resistance and infection management.
Alexandra De Wever Treschow has over 15 years of leadership experience within life science management and consulting including 4 years as CEO of diagnostics company Aprovix. Prior to that, Alexandra was managing partner of Stockholm-based inRikta Analys. She is co-founder and currently serves as CEO of NORDx Pharma. She holds a PhD in Gene Therapy from Karolinska Institutet and an MBA from Quantic School of business and Technology, USA.
Ulrika Ågren is presently an Investment Manager at Almi Invest focusing on medtech, healthtech and greentech. Ulrika has over 20 years of experience in the med-tech industry with specialisations in intellectual property, innovation portfolio management, project management and business development. She is a certified board member and previously worked for global medtech companies such as Mölnlycke Health Care where she was Global IP Director and the biotech company Cellartis (now Takara Bio). Before joining Almi Invest Ulrika coached HealthTech startups at Sahlgrenska Science Park.
Jonas Bergman serves as an Investment Director at Chalmers Ventures. He brings with him great insight into the operations of med-tech companiesand how they can create long-term value. Jonas has a Master ofScience in Engineering fromChalmers University of Technology and has been CEO of both listed and unlisted life-sciencecompanies for many years. He has also worked as a management consultant forover 7 years with a particular focus in Biotech.
Amferia’s first human clinical study published
June 26, 2023
We are thrilled to share that our dedicated team at Amferia in collaboration with Chalmers tekniska högskola has published a randomised controlled study in the Journal of Wound Care that demonstrates the outstanding antibacterial performance of our hydrogel wound dressing. We studied our wound dressing on intact human skin as a model to evaluate the speed and efficacy of the dressing to kill bacteria — and the results were truly remarkable!
By utilizing the Amferia Antimicrobial Hydrogel technology, we eradicated bacteria when placed in contact with skin within a short period of three hours.
By utilizing the Amferia Antimicrobial Hydrogel, bacteria was eradicated within three hours.
These findings demonstrate the potential of our antibacterial wound dressing to significantly reduce the risk of infection in wounds, offering new possibilities for improved patient outcomes. This study lays the foundation for our future clinical studies in human wounds.
Amferia raises SEK 15.4 million to launch innovative antimicrobial wound care dressing
January 27, 2023
The financing was raised from Almi Invest, Chalmers Ventures, and with several angel investors to support launch of Amferia’s first product, a wound care dressing with a patented hydrogel that actively combats infections and kills antibiotic-resistant bacteria.
Amferia's innovative, anti-microbial solution can be used on wide-ranging wounds from simple skin injuries, post-operative wounds to chronic wounds and trauma / burn wounds. The WHO predicts that antibiotic-resistant infections, including those from wounds could become one of the leading causes of both illness and death over the next ten years.
“I am grateful to all our committed investors: Every year, nearly 1 million people die globally because of infections caused by antibiotic-resistant bacteria and at least a quarter of those infections begin with a simple wound on the skin. Amferia's wound care solution is a game-changer and will save lives. The resistance problem is even more challenging within the animal health sector.”, says Agneta Edberg, Chairperson of Amferia.
Amferia's wound care solution is a game-changer and will save lives.
Amferia's patented material, an antimicrobial amphiphilic hydrogel, has been developed through several years of research in collaboration with Chalmers University of Technology and contains molecules inspired by body’s own immune system. The material instantly kills all bacteria (even antibiotic resistant) by binding to and disrupting their cell membranes, all without damaging the body’s own cells or entering the bloodstream. The first product from this technology is a hydrogel wound-care dressing for dry-to-low exuding wounds, while the material is also being investigated for development in several other areas, including sprays for deep wounds, and coatings for implants and a variety of catheters. In September of 2022, Amferia launched its first wound dressings for animal health in Sweden and plan on expanding across Europe during 2023. In parallel, the company is preparing to file for regulatory clearance in the US for human health.
The wound care market currently generates sales for over US $ 2 billion globally with a projected CAGR of 5 %. However, existing alternatives on the market often contain antibiotics that carry the risk of causing resistance or antiseptics that may harm body cells and negative environmental impact.
We already have our first product on the market for animal wound care in Sweden
“The investment enables us to perform three key tasks: scale up and launch our products for animal health in Europe, file for FDA clearance of the application for human health and thirdly initiate more clinical studies in both market segments. This ambition is supported by the fact that we already have our first product on the market for animal wound care in Sweden”, says Anand Kumar Rajasekharan, CEO of Amferia.
