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1:41 pm, June 29, 2009
Byotrol shares soar on MRI trial result
Shares in Manchester-based biocide technology firm Byotrol Plc (AIM: BYOT) shot up today on the back of positive news about the use of its products at Manchester Royal Infirmary.
An 11-month trial at MRI showed that a Byotrol-based disinfectant cut the number of MRSA superbug infections by a third compared to cleaning agents currently in use by the National Health Service.
The shares rose 44.8 per cent today to 21p as investors digested the news.
A product called AzoMaxActive, which contains Byotrol technology, was used on two general medical wards, while the NHS's standard cleaning bleach was used on two others.
The trial followed a “crossover format” in which Byotrol was used on two wards for six months then used on the two bleach-cleaned control wards for another five months. Its advantage over bleach was maintained throughout the trial.
The study was supervised by TrusTECH, The NHS’s Innovation Hub in the North West of England.
Dr Andrew Dodgson, a consultant microbiologist who led the trial, described the results as "very impressive".
He added: “We have made significant reductions in our rates of Healthcare Acquired Infections (HCAIs) at Central Manchester University Hospitals Foundation Trust, including the MRI.
"With this in mind we were very excited to be able to look at a new technology that could potentially reduce our rates even further.
"The results we have seen from the trial are very impressive. Cutting the levels of pathogens on the wards reduces the risk to patients of picking up an infection.
“The new disinfectant has a potential role to play in helping all hospitals in the battle to control HCAIs and the demonstration of a residual antibacterial effect is a major new discovery that will be an additional weapon for the NHS in the battle against superbugs”
Lord Warner, a former Health Minister, who is an adviser to Byotrol Plc, said the Manchester results warranted much wider use of the company's products in the NHS as part of the campaign to wipe out hospital superbugs.
He pledged to press Ministers and the NHS to study the findings very closely and take the necessary action.
Healthcare Acquired Infections cost the UK economy as much as £11bn per year and the health sector £1bn, according to the British Medical Association.
About 300,000 patients – one in 12 – contracts an infection in an English hospital every year.
Byotrol said that unlike bleach, its products are not toxic and can be used in close proximity to patients without harming them.
Current NHS practice limits the regular use of bleach to all but the most high-risk areas in hospitals.
An earlier trial in 2006 at Glasgow Royal Infirmary found that Byotrol cut MRSA infections by 50 per cent.
Since then, however, the company has achieved very few sales to the NHS, despite the presence of a Byotrol-based product in NHS supplier Synergy Health’s main catalogue.
Stephen Falder, Byotrol’s deputy chairman, told Crain’s today that the Glasgow study was mainly a proof of concept exercise, designed to show that Byotrol could prevent microbes from returning to surfaces once they had been cleaned.
“The difference now is that we have actually got a product we can go out and sell and which doctors and nurses can ask for,” he added.
“The Manchester results are hugely encouraging. Widespread use of Byotrol across the NHS would enable us to take giant strides in eradicating the scourge of the superbug and bring great reassurance and safety to patients.”
Professor Curtis Gemmell, who conducted the Glasgow trial, said the MRI results shows that Byotrol was superior to bleach and said “the results warrant its adoption".
Comments?manchesternews@crain.com
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