DESC0024006

Management of chronic wounds remains a clinical challenge, especially when the wounds are infected by either biofilms or antibiotic-resistant microbial pathogens. Low temperature plasma (LTP) technique has demonstrated its proof of concept as an effective, non-antibiotic approach for wound disinfection. So far, commercial medical LTP devices leverage the direct exposure of plasma plume to the wound tissue, which leads to an increased risk of irreversible tissue damage. Besides the safety concerns, high manufacturing expenses and low portability among many other disadvantages prevent the widespread clinical translations of the LTP technology. Zymeron proposes to develop ZymPlasTM, a convenient, portable, and highly effective low temperature plasma device for chronic wound disinfection and healing at the point of care. ZymPlas adopts innovative plasma chemistry, which allows effective wound disinfection without the direct exposure of wound tissue to plasma plume. Besides, the novel plasma generation system and the compact design allow cost-effective manufacturing and improved portability. In the Phase I period, Zymeron will design and construct a functioning ZymPlasTM prototype device and optimize the relevant plasma chemistry. Next, the wound disinfection efficacy of the prototype device will be evaluated in ex vivo wound biofilm models using both Gram-negative and Gram-positive strains. Finally, the prototype device will be tested in a well-established mouse chronic wound infection model to validate the efficacy of wound disinfection and healing. ZymPlas can address wound infection and biofilm issues and thus brings significant clinical benefits (e.g., decreasing the wound chronicity, restoring impaired healing, reducing regular care frequency, shortening wound closure time) and reduces the financial and medical burden. Moreover, ZymPlas is also ideal for other applications such as acute trauma treatment, burn treatment, and surgical disinfection. The portable device design, simple operation procedure, and disinfection efficiency could match numerous applications in wound healing and dermatology therapeutic areas.