Copper is a natural antimicrobial agent and an essential element in the human body that is critical for many physiological processes, including wound healing¹.

Also, copper has been long used with no known evidence of the emergence of resistant microbial strains². 

Our first development is to incorporate copper in multifilament sutures. 

Sutures are a risk factor to Surgical Site Infection (SSI). SSI is defined as an infection that occurs within 30 days after the operation and involves the skin of the incision³. Foreign materials, such as sutures and especially multifilaments, are a risk factor to SSI as they lower the number of bacteria required to cause an infection⁴. Therefore adding copper to the suture reduces the microbial colonization of the suture.

As of now, Triclosan is the most dominant material used in antibacterial sutures. The World Health Organization gave a conditional recommendation to use triclosan-coated sutures for the purpose of reducing the risk of SSI. It was also written that “..comparisons with an alternative antimicrobial agent to triclosan would be welcome”⁵.

We view copper as an optimal antibacterial agent for sutures. Therefore we are excited to work with several global companies to enter the market with our copper based antibacterial technology.

1. UAUY. R, et al; Essentiality of copper in humans. Am. J Clin. Nutr., 1998, vol.1.  67, no. 5 Suppl, p. 952S-959S.
2. BORKOW, G. Safety of Using Copper Oxide inn Medical Devices and Consumer Products. Current Chemical Biology. 2012 6(1):86-92
3,5. Global guidelines for the prevention of surgical site infection, World Health Organization, 2016.
4. Edmiston CE, et al. Bacterial adherence to surgical sutures: can antibacterial-coated sutures reduce the risk of microbial contamination? J Am Coll Surg; 2006, 203(4):481-489