0:03 Okay. Can everybody hear me? Okay. Yeah.
0:06 Perfect. Cool. Um, so hello everybody.
0:08 Uh, my name is Dr. Georgia Fleet. I am a
0:12 co-founder and CEO at Zenova. Um, I am a
0:14 material scientist by background. Um,
0:15 I've been working in material science
0:17 for about 10 years across my PhD and
0:21 also in industry um, and more in the
0:22 more recent years specifically
0:25 antimicrobial um, materials.
0:28 Um, for context, I work across both
0:30 animal and human health. Um, so full
0:32 disclosure, the data is basically all
0:33 human health data. Um, and I've worked
0:35 the animal health sections into it. It's
0:37 just where there are quite a few gaps in
0:38 the animal health sets of data, whereas
0:40 the human stuff is a lot obviously
0:44 bigger and more clear.
0:45 So, what I'm going to talk to you about
0:48 today is um really like medical devices
0:49 and medtech and I feel there's a bit of
0:53 a it's a bit of an under underestimated
0:55 um infrastructure to all healthcare. If
0:56 you think about it, medical devices are
0:58 really core to delivering all health
1:00 care across both animal and human
1:02 health. And what I mean by medical
1:03 devices are things like, you know, your
1:05 IVs, um, you know, CBC's, urinary
1:07 catheters, ET tubes, all those like
1:08 plastic tubing, um, you know, orthopedic
1:11 implants, they are all helping you to
1:14 deliver healthare. Um, and really what
1:16 the focus has been on um, so far in
1:18 terms of antimicrobial resistance does
1:20 center a lot around drugs and
1:22 diagnostics, right? Um, I think we just
1:24 heard the pathway to developing new
1:28 drugs is insanely long and insanely
1:30 expensive and right now we just don't we
1:32 simply just don't have enough new
1:34 antimicrobials in the pipeline to kind
1:35 of save us from the looming
1:38 antimicrobial resistance crisis. Um, so
1:41 really what Sonova is about is getting a
1:42 little bit creative with this, getting a
1:44 little bit inventive and trying to stop
1:47 and prevent infections at the source so
1:48 that we're not getting to the point
1:50 where fair enough we can diagnose
1:52 something in two seconds and but you
1:53 know we can't actually treat it at the
1:54 end of the day because we don't have any
1:56 effective working antimicrobial
2:00 treatments. Um, so drugs and diagnost
2:03 diagnostics are absolutely vital. Um,
2:05 but by then the infection's already
2:08 there, right? So what if we could stop
2:10 these infections before they ever start?
2:11 Um and that's where we really come in
2:13 with out of box innovations that kind of
2:15 tackle the hidden infrastructure of
2:18 infection. Um so you know devices but
2:20 not just devices, things like surfaces,
2:22 you know, systems that are allowing
2:24 bacteria to grow and take hold. Simple
2:26 things like sinks in hospitals are
2:28 massive reservoirs for bacteria. Um and
2:30 they just kind of go under the radar a
2:32 little bit. Um so by targeting the point
2:34 that infections begin, I really do think
2:35 we can cut them off at the source. And
2:37 that's going right back to the beginning
2:38 of today with Danny Chambers kind of
2:40 talking about going right back to the
2:42 source of these infections. Um, and
2:44 biased additional time in a world where
2:50 antibiotics might not be available.
2:53 So one in 10 patients actually develop
2:56 infections from these medical devices in
2:57 hospitals. Um, so if you go into
2:59 hospital, you've got a one in 10 chance
3:00 of getting an infection simply from
3:03 being in hospital. And about 70% of
3:05 those are directly linked back to these
3:08 types of devices. Um, and as you can see
3:09 here just from the photos, this was from
3:11 a clinical study that I ran back in
3:14 2022. Um, it's a human endotracheal
3:16 tube. But after a few days, you get
3:18 really disgusting bacterial biofilm
3:19 growing on these tubes and then that's
3:21 leading to pneumonia. And actually what
3:23 started my journey on this was having a
3:25 conversation with a critical care
3:27 consultant at UC who said he thought his
3:28 leading cause of death in his unit was
3:30 secondary infections like ventilator
3:33 associated pneumonia. Um which I just
3:37 thought was absolutely ridiculous.
3:39 Um and it is harming patients across
3:42 both animal and human health. Um they've
3:44 got really high likelihood of infections
3:45 you know and the main the main three
3:47 kind of problems problem areas here are
3:49 the vascular access devices um
3:51 incubation devices. So the endotracheal
3:54 tube specifically more for humans um and
3:55 also urinary catheterss and that goes
3:58 across both animal and human health. Um
4:00 here you've got the infection rates in
4:03 the human world. Um and bar the
4:04 incubation one which there isn't any
4:06 data on and you know animals just don't
4:07 tend to be incubated for long enough to
4:10 be that problematic with infections. Um
4:12 but in terms of your vascular access and
4:14 your urinary the data does show that in
4:17 animal health the rates of colonization
4:20 do mirror this. Um, so you've got a few
4:21 common culprits here. So they range
4:23 from, you know, gram positive bacteria,
4:25 gram negative bacteria, also fungus is
4:27 kind of making a move now as well. And
4:29 they're causing really serious
4:31 life-threatening infections. So we
4:33 thought that it was time that we stop
4:35 just accepting this as something that
4:36 happens and to actually do something
4:39 about it.
4:41 Enter Senova. Um, so what we've
4:43 developed is an antimicrobial
4:46 technology, a compound that is embedded
4:48 into these devices. And what it does is
4:51 once it's embedded into the devices and
4:53 like the plastics themselves, it creates
4:54 this protective surface on the plastic
4:57 that is actively killing organisms on
4:59 contact. Um big benefits are is that it
5:00 integrates directly into the
5:02 manufacturing process. So it's not a
5:05 coating. There's no impact on the
5:07 regulatory classification um in terms of
5:08 the medical device which means we can
5:11 get it to market sooner. Um, and really
5:13 the big win is that it actually enables
5:15 infection prevention at a major source
5:17 with no change to doctor or vet behavior.
5:24 Um, and here are just some results. Um,
5:26 these are all in vitro lab results that
5:28 we've conducted ourselves. This is
5:30 actually a plate that I did. Um, this is
5:33 a plate of MRSA. Um, but we get great
5:35 activity across the board against gram
5:38 positive, gram negative and uh fungus.
5:41 So ones to point out here as well is
5:43 that the MRSA and the sudamonus are
5:45 actually clinical strains. The sudamonus
5:48 is an ESPL producing strain and these
5:49 were directly taken because they
5:51 couldn't be killed by any antibiotics
5:58 So to zoom that back out and kind of
6:00 focus on the value actually that this
6:02 brings as well and put it into wider
6:05 context is that we spend 2.7 billion
6:07 just in the UK fighting just hospital
6:10 infections. Um which is higher in a
6:12 recent report. It's higher than treating
6:14 all smoking related illnesses. So it is
6:16 just a bit crazy that this isn't
6:18 something that we're focusing on more.
6:20 Um and you know we're absolutely not the
6:21 first people to try and take this angle.
6:23 There are quite a few devices out there
6:25 in terms of primarily wound dressings
6:28 that focus on silver and honey. Um
6:29 silver being the dominant one in the
6:32 market, but there are quite significant
6:35 evidence gaps um in efficacy and that is
6:36 therefore now driving uh quite a lot of
6:39 push back from regulators.
6:41 Um so therefore, you know, everyone's
6:42 looking for, you know, alternatives to
6:45 silver that are really active on a broad
6:47 spectrum level. Um so we think you know
6:49 we're in a really good position here to
6:52 kind of come in as a non-coating broadly
6:54 effective non-leing antimicrobial
6:56 technology. Um and the exciting news is
7:00 that we've got veterary IV study IV
7:01 pilot studies set up across three
7:04 veterary hospitals um in the UK. So
7:05 we're very very much on our way to
7:07 proving this in the real world.
7:08 Hopefully we'll start getting that data
7:12 back um middle of next year.
7:16 Um, so just to finish off, you know,
7:18 this is just one part of the puzzle and
7:19 I really hope that this hasn't come
7:20 across as me just kind of being like,
7:22 don't invest in drugs or don't invest in
7:24 diagnostics. It's not about that at all.
7:26 Um, but I think this all needs to work
7:28 together and we I think we do need to
7:29 start thinking a little bit more
7:31 creatively about this. So, you know,
7:33 working alongside drugs, diagnostics,
7:35 good stewardship, awareness, um, and
7:38 broader health care innovation.
7:41 So, that is all I have to say. And thank
7:43 you so much for staying awake and listening.
