Biosignal to develop antibacterial products
Australian antibacterial technology company Biosignal has signed a deal with Swiss-based Ciba Specialty Chemicals for the joint development and licensing of products using Biosignal’s antibacterial technology.
Biosignal has granted Ciba an exclusive license in key industrial markets, such as plastics, coatings, paints, fibres and paper products, while Ciba will fund an initial 18-month joint development programme. Product candidates are then expected to go through further development and scale-up before being submitted for regulatory approval in the US, Europe and elsewhere. Ciba will also pay royalties to Biosignal until the patents expire.
“Ciba is an ideal partner because of its strong position in worldwide speciality chemical markets and its chemicals manufacturing experience might play a big role in scale-up of low-cost production of Biosignal’s anti-biofilm compounds,” said Michael Oredsson, md of Biosignal.
Biosignal has been developing a novel antibacterial technology that is currently being applied to lowering the risk of infection from contact lenses. Future applications will include medical devices as well as other plastics, coatings, paints, fibres and paper products.
It is based on a discovery that the eastern Australian seaweed Delisea pulchra produces natural furanones that disable bacteria’s ability to colonise. The anti-biofilm technology lulls bacteria to inaction and appears to avoid the problem of bacterial resistance.