Nomir Medical Technologies, a leader in the development of optical energy technologies for medical applications, announced today the publication of a scientific paper in the journal Photochemistry and Photobiology that details in vitro and human data demonstrating the unique and patented mechanism-of-action for its Noveon® dual-wavelength device, as well as positive efficacy and safety data. Noveon is a light-based system that photo-biologically targets the elimination of bacterial and fungal infections through a unique, near-infrared, photo-inactivation effect, while preserving healthy tissue and promoting recovery.
“This publication provides important information about the efficacy and side-effect profile of Noveon in multiple classes of infectious disease pathogens, as well as the underlying mechanism-of-action that produces its photo-inactivation effect,” said Eric Bornstein, D.M.D., Chief Scientist of Nomir and lead author on the paper. “It is essential that potential light-based therapies for infectious disease be nontoxic to surrounding healthy human tissue. In the past, UV wavelengths have been used to photo-damage pathogens, but unfortunately, UV light is also photo-carcinogenic to human cells, necessitating the study of other phototherapy-based treatments for infectious disease. We believe the selective aspect of near-infrared photo-inactivation provided by Noveon highlights its potential for the treatment of a broad range of infectious diseases. The Noveon is the first system to produce statistical evidence of safe photo-damage to resistant bacterial pathogens like MRSA and fungal pathogens such as C. albicans and T. rubrum, all at physiologic temperatures.”
The Noveon system employs dual-wavelengths of 870 and 930 nanometer, wavelengths that have previously been shown to exhibit cellular photo-damaging properties only in optical traps. In the in vitro study utilizing Noveon against several bacterial and fungal species, Nomir scientists measured a decrease in trans-membrane potentials (a measure of the robustness of cellular bioenergetics) and an increase in reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the cells. Therefore, Noveon’s mechanism-of-action involves selective damage to the pathogens by the endogenously generated ROS. This phenomenon is referred to as the patent-pending “optically mediated mechano-transduction of cellular redox pathways.”
Results of the in vitro studies demonstrate photo-inactivation of 98% of S. aureus colonies and of 97% of E. coli colonies, versus control, at physiologic temperatures. Additionally, complete photo-inactivation of 100% of T. rubrum and C. albicans colonies was achieved versus control.