A Medical Device Daily

Ceragenix Pharmaceuticals (Denver), a company focused on infectious disease and dermatology applications, reported that the University of Utah (Salt Lake City) has received a grant of $1.66 million from the National institutes of Health to fund research evaluating the company's Cerashield coating used to reduce orthopedic implant infections.

Roy Bloebaum, PhD, a research professor at the University of Utah and career scientist and director, Bone and Joint Research Laboratory of the Veterans Administration Hospital (Salt Lake City), is the principal investigator on the grant.

The grant will fund preclinical evaluation of orthopedic implants coated with CSA-13, the active ingredient in Cerashield coatings. Ceragenix said that multiple in vitro tests have demonstrated that CSA-13 has potent activity against a broad spectrum of strains of bacteria, including multi-drug resistant strains such as Methicillin Resistant Staph Aureus, associated with orthopedic implant infections.