Innovation Pharmaceuticals Inc (IPIX)

[slcimmuno]

Polycide -- Found this old IHUB post
Seems the China Polycide is difft (would think so)

http://investorshub.advfn.com/boards/read_msg.aspx?message_id=92075967

Below couple articles on biocides from a few years back... Polymedix Polycide references. (Not sure if previously posted.)

Synthetic Polymer Mimics Antimicrobial Properties of Host-Defense Proteins

http://www.qmed.com/mpmn/article/synthetic-polymer-mimics-antimicrobial-properties-host-defense-proteins

[...]

The company’s PolyCide family of antimicrobial materials is active against hundreds of Gram-positive and Gram-negative drug-resistant bacteria and 399 kinds of staph bacteria, says Nicholas Landekic, PolyMedix’s president, CEO, director, and founder. Consisting of fully synthetic compounds made from commercially available starting materials, the family includes three classes of agents: one-step methacrylate polymers synthesized from two commercially available prepolymers, two- or three-step polynorbornenes, and five-step phenylalkyne oligomers.

The PolyCides are water soluble and heat stable to approximately 200°C. They can also be incorporated into materials by injection molding, extrusion, or solvent melt-casting processes. Capable of being mixed into a variety of materials—including PVC, polyurethane, silicone, PLGA, styrene, polysulfone, and polyester—the antimicrobials can either be incorporated into the substrate of the device structure itself or applied as a coating in a PVC, polyurethane, or similar carrier. “As long as the surface is accessible to the PolyCide polymer, the material can exert its antimicrobial activity,” Landekic says.

Besides having different structures and mechanisms, silver-based antimicrobial agents and the PolyCide materials differ in several other respects. For example, while silver compounds require approximately 24 hours to kill bacteria, the PolyCides can accomplish this task in less than one minute, Landekic states. He adds that while silver acts poorly on biofilms, the PolyCides act rapidly in both disrupting existing biofilms and in preventing the formation of new ones. And while silver compounds must leach into the bacterial cell, the PolyCides act on the cell surface. Finally, silver ions exhibit cytotoxicity that accumulates in body tissue. In contrast, the PolyCides are highly selective toward bacterial versus human cells, according to Landekic.
“Many types of medical devices—such as surgical sutures, catheters, intravenous tubing, implantable joints, bandages, and wound dressings—could benefit from our antimicrobial material,” Landekic says. Like host-defense proteins, which have developed resistance to bacteria over hundreds of millions of years, the PolyCides offer broad resistance against bacteria, as evidenced by 18 sets of serial passage experiments and single-point mutation assays. Landekic concludes, “PolyMedix has thus learned from nature to mimic one of the oldest and most effective immune system defenses against bacterial infection.”

In the Front Lines of Germ Warfare

http://plasticsengineeringblog.com/2011/02/15/in-the-front-lines-of-germ-warfare/

Antimicrobials in the U.S. are regulated by the Environmental Protection Agency. “To register and get approval for a new antimicrobial chemistry takes many years and millions of dollars, so few companies can justify doing it,” he explains. “There have been very few new active ingredients for incorporation into plastics commercialized over the last three to five years.” Antimicrobial R&D is also drying up in Europe, where the European Union is creating an EPA-like body to regulate antimicrobials under the Biocidal Products Directive, he adds.

[...]

Steffen Helmling, vice president of business development at emerging biotechnology company PolyMedix Inc. in Radnor, Pa. (www.polymedix.com) will present “PolyCides – Broad Spectrum Antimicrobial Materials for Industrial Applications.” PolyMedix’s multi-patented antimicrobial chemistry uses the same principle as antimicrobial host defense proteins, a component of the body’s own defense system. PolyMedix developed small synthetic protein mimics that have one lipid-loving face and one water-loving face (amphiphilic molecules). This allows them to kill bacteria by selectively inserting themselves into the bacterial cell membrane. “Our mechanism is different from other commercially available antimicrobials. It’s a biophysical approach that targets and destabilizes the bacterial cell membranes, whereas silver has to be metabolized,” Helmling explains. “This mechanism also makes the development of bacterial resistance unlikely.” The PolyCide compounds are between 5800-2500molecular weight and are incorporated into plastics like PVC or polyurethane at levels of 0.5-1%. “Our molecules have certain properties, which lead them to aggregate at surfaces, where they are active,” Helmling notes. They can also be used in a surface layer. PolyMedix is testing its PolyCides with a number of partners primarily for medical device applications, but would like to expand testing to include working with compounders to create biocidal plastic additives