Drug Trials Lead to Possible New MRSA Protection for Hospital Patients

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals, Inc. has announced the results of trials in a potential new weapon in the fight against dangerous MRSA infections in our nation's hospitals.

MRSA stands for methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus which is a potentially fatal infection that does not respond to traditional  antibiotics.

MRSA is typically contracted during hospitalizations; however, recently more and more cases are developing in the general public at a growing rate. The new trend of the bacteria to develop in the public setting has brought new attention to the serious and sometimes deadly illness it can bring about.

Not everyone who encounters the MRSA bacteria will exhibits symptoms or illness. It has been shown that it is those individuals who have had recent infections or illness or those who have open wounds are more likely to become suffer symptoms of MRSA. This is why the hospital setting is the perfect place for MRSA related infections to develop. Many patients have weakened immune systems or surgery sites that they are trying to recover from and this makes them susceptible to the bacteria that researchers have found normally resides in the nose and on the skin.

In an effort to battle the some 90,000 cases of MRSA infections per year in our country NovaBay Pharmaceuticals has developed NVC-422. This new drug will be marketed under the name, AgaNase and is developed to be radically different than other methods currently used to treat and prevent the MRSA infections. It is designed to be a "non-antibiotic" which means that kills infections immediately on contact.

The drug is applied in the nostrils of patients in hospitals, and was found in early trials to be safe and effective. Only mild side effects that were noted with the application of this drug; therefore, it was green lighted to continue further trials and development.