At 10am tomorrow, on Wednesday 1 October, Minister for Health and Social Affairs, Göran Hägglund, is visiting medical technology company Bactiguard’s production facility in Småland. Bactiguard’s technology contributes towards solving the problem of hospital acquired infections and could save the lives of at least 100 patients a year in Sweden alone and save approximately SEK 290 million in Swedish healthcare through the use of Bactiguard’s urinary tract catheter BIP Foley.
The press is welcome to attend a demonstration of the production facility at 10am along with Minister for Health and Social Affairs, Göran Hägglund, and Bactiguard CEO, Christian Kinch. At 10.40am, press interviews will be offered with Göran Hägglund and Christian Kinch. Please call +46 (0)8 31 17 70 to register attendance.
It is estimated that each year approximately 1,100 patients in Sweden alone die as a result of hospital acquired infections, which makes it one of the most common causes of premature death. 300 of these deaths are caused by urinary tract infections which, in turn, are related to catheter use.
Clinical studies have shown that the risk of infection in conjunction with the use of urinary tract catheters containing Bactiguard’s protective anti-microbial coating is reduced by up to 40%. This means that using Bactiguard’s urinary tract catheter BIP Foley can save the lives of at least 100 patients annually in the Swedish healthcare system. If blood and respiratory products which are in development are also taken into account, this could mean hundreds of lives and in the region of SEK 1.4 billion in savings for the healthcare system.
In the US, 85% of hospitals already use Bactiguard®. Bactiguard’s coating prevents approximately 3,900 deaths from hospital acquired infections there and saves the American healthcare system half a billion dollars each year. Several healthcare institutions in Sweden are now beginning to use BIP Foley and the goal is clear – to reduce hospital acquired infections and thus the number of unnecessary deaths and the suffering and financial costs resulting from hospital acquired infections.
During his visit to Bactiguard, Minister for Health and Social Affairs Göran Hägglund will study in more detail the production of the coating, which is the basis for Bactiguard’s technology to reduce hospital acquired infections.
Bactiguard has previously been brought to the attention of Minister for Health and Social Affairs Göran Hägglund and Minister for Elderly Care and Public Health, Maria Larsson, on a number of occasions. Among other things, Bactiguard has participated in official delegations during trips to China, India, the USA and the Middle East. Within the field of infection control, Bactiguard is one of the Swedish companies that are actively involved in the co-operation programme which has been established between China’s Ministry of Health and Sweden’s Ministry of Health and Social Affairs. A similar arrangement is currently being prepared with India’s Ministry of Health.
Bactiguard Infection Protection product portfolio
BIP Foley is a urinary tract catheter covered with Bactiguard’s unique, extra thin coating, which is only several atoms thick. Small quantities of precious metals, such as gold and palladium, interact to provide an anti-microbial effect which efficiently delays growth of bacteria and other microbes on the treated surface.
Bactiguard has now progressed from supplying only the actual coating to supplying its own finished products produced in-house and under its trade mark. The first is the urinary tract catheter BIP Foley which will be followed by products with Bactiguard’s coating within areas such as blood catheters and respiratory aids.
The coating has been in use since 1995 and is to be found on products registered with both the FDA and the Japanese Department of Health, as well as on CE classified products.
In the US and Japan, the coating is sold under licence through the American medical technology company C.R. Bard Inc., which uses it on its urinary tract catheters. In the US, 85% of hospitals use urinary tract catheters containing Bactiguard’s coating.
Bactiguard – a Swedish company and invention
Bactiguard® is based on a Swedish invention and the company was founded in 1978. The coating has been in use since the middle of the 1990s but it is only now that Bactiguard is going the whole way and launching its own products.
Bactiguard has co-operated for many years with the American medical technology company C.R. Bard Inc., whose Bactiguard®-coated urinary tract catheters are market leaders in the US and Japan. This co-operation will continue while, at the same time, Bactiguard will go from being a licensor of certain technology to a fully-fledged medical technology company.
Bactiguard’s rapidly growing Swedish operations are conducted in Stockholm and Småland, with full scale analysis and microbiology laboratories as well as production facilities with cleanrooms. In addition, Bactiguard has manufacturing in China in order to begin developing the enormous market there.
Last year, patients used around 14.5 million products with Bactiguard’s coating and, since the start, 80 million products with Bactiguard’s coating have protected patients in different parts of the world.
For more information, contact:
Christian Kinch, CEO, Bactiguard: +46 8 440 48 80
Johan Hähnel, +46 70 605 6334
www.bactiguard.se