Health Canada has approved Bactiguard's endotracheal tubes for infection prevention through an Interim Order. The approval is driven by COVID-19, as Bactiguard's endotracheal tubes can reduce the risk of secondary infections for critically ill patients.

"Many critically ill COVID-19 patients require intubation with an endotracheal tube (ETT) and mechanical ventilation. The ICU treatment period can be 14 days or more, which means patients will require ETTs for a long period of time. Each day of treatment increases the risk of acquiring ventilator acquired pneumonia, which is a very serious condition. The Canadian Patient Safety Institute estimates that VAP leads to 6-30 % additional deaths among critically ill patients and increases ICU length-of-stay with 8.7 days", says Dr Stefan Grass, Chief Medical Officer and deputy CEO at Bactiguard.

"The global COVID-19 pandemic we now experience has highlighted the urgent need for infection prevention. The pressure on healthcare in general, and the ICUs in particular, is enormous. Therefore, we are very pleased to be able to offer ICU patients better protection against secondary infections in the form of endotracheal tubes from Bactiguard", says Maik Rehfeldt, CEO of HANSAmed.

The Bactiguard coating technology for infection prevention reduces microbial adhesion to medical devices, which in turn reduces the risk of device-related infections. COVID-19 may lead to severe viral sepsis, with some patients suffering from multi organ failure. The ICU treatment period is often 14 days or longer, and each day in hospital increases the risk for the patient of acquiring a device-related infection, such as ventilator-associated pneumonia (VAP). Bactiguard's ETT has demonstrated a reduction of VAP of 38 % in a recent clinical trial[1]. 

Read more about VAP on The Canadian Patient Safety Institute webpage >>> (https://www.patientsafetyinstitute.ca/en/Topic/Pages/Ventilator-Associated-Pneumonia-(VAP).aspx)
Reference: 1. Data on file
For further information, please contact:
Jonas Östregård, SVP Sales & Marketing, mobile: +46 70 521 13 88
George Cugini, Director Business Development, HANSAmed, mobile: +1 416 574 0423
About HANSAmed Limited
Established in 1996, HANSAmed Limited is a specialty pharmaceutical and medical device distributor serving the needs of the Canadian dental and medical professionals while focusing on meeting the specialized education and product-related needs of oral and maxillofacial surgeons, periodontists, general practitioners, and hygienists. In recent years, HANSAmed has expanded its services to include medical practitioners and is investing in the growth of this channel with a portfolio of new specialty products. Bactiguard prevention products are a fine example of our commitment to adding unique and important products to serve medical specialists.
Our Health Canada licences include DEL, MDEL, and NHP to import, wholesale and distribute drug and medical devices as well as the ability to package and re-label them. 

For more information: www.hansamed.net

About Bactiguard
Bactiguard is a Swedish medical device company with a mission to save lives. To achieve this mission, we develop and supply infection prevention solutions which reduce the risk of healthcare associated infections and the use of antibiotics. In this way, we save significant costs for healthcare and society at large.

The Bactiguard technology prevents bacterial adhesion and biofilm formation on medical devices. Bactiguard offers the technology through license agreements and with our BIP (Bactiguard Infection Protection) portfolio of products. Through our license partner BD, urinary catheters with Bactiguard's coating are market leading in the USA and Japan. Bactiguard's own product portfolio of urinary catheters, endotracheal tubes and central venous catheters prevent some of the most common infections, which appear in the urinary tract, the blood stream and the respiratory tract.

Bactiguard is in a strong expansion phase in the European markets, China, India and the Middle East as well by establishing license agreements in new therapeutic areas. Recently, Bactiguard completed the acquisition of Malaysian Vigilenz, a manufacturer and supplier of medical devices and consumables, primarily within wound care and infection prevention.

Following the acquisition, Bactiguard has about 180 employees around the world. Its headquarters and one of three production facilities are located in Stockholm, the other two in Malaysia.

Bactiguard is listed on Nasdaq Stockholm.

Read more about how Bactiguard saves lives at www.bactiguard.com

https://news.cision.com/bactiguard-holding-ab--publ-/r/health-canada-provides-covid-19-interim-order-approval-for-bactiguard-s-endotracheal-tubes,c3167637

https://mb.cision.com/Main/9686/3167637/1290240.pdf

https://news.cision.com/bactiguard-holding-ab--publ-/i/bactiguard-bip-ett-evac,c2811435

(c) 2020 Cision. All rights reserved., source Press Releases - English