Health Canada provides COVID-19 Interim Order approval for Bactiguard's endotracheal tubes

STOCKHOLM, Aug. 12, 2020 /PRNewswire/ -- 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 trial¹. 

Read more about VAP on The Canadian Patient Safety Institute webpage >>>

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

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