Next generation anti-infective polymer
Oxfocid®, with the chemical name Polymetaxylidenaminoguanidin (PMAG) is a biocidal product that was discovered in 2012 by Dr. Pretsch and his team and resulted in structurally novel aminoguanidine polymers that significantly expands the window between anti-infective activity and cytotoxicity compared to competitor products like PHMBs or PHMG.
The big difference between Oxfocid® and current blockbuster products such as PHMB and PHMG is, that neurotoxic and genotoxic groups (e.g. ω-diaminoalkylidene) groups are being replaced in the synthesis process. This innovative step ensures that Oxfocid® has much fewer unwanted toxic effects compared to current products and can be approved for even more sensitive markets thus positioning itself as a replacement for the blockbusters PHMB and PHMG.
The worldwide patented Oxfocid® is a simple one step product, with good reproducibility and robustness of the manufacturing process. It thus meets the necessary to meet requirements as biocidal and med-tech product. Its features allow cost efficient scalability of the manufacturing process to larger quantities. Oxfocid® is therefore well suited for inexpensive bulk production. The whole synthesis is harmless, safe, environmentally friendly and without residues or other impurities.
The final product is easy to mix and formulate and suitable for a wide range of applications (disinfection, stabilizer in products, nebulizing product, med-tech, etc.). It is colorless, without taste or odor, is non-flammable and has ideal solution behavior for product development. It has an optimal product storage stability – as stock solution and in diluted form, is safe to transport over long distances and is stable in all weather conditions.
Broad activity to safe humanity
Oxfocid® as next generation anti-infective polymer has an outstanding efficacy profile that covers all kinds of multi-resistant bacteria, both in the gram-positive and gram-negative range, including all important nosocomial germs, is active against fungi as well as spores and acts against a wide range of viruses, especially respiratory viruses such as HRV, Influenza, Adeno and Corona. The polymer has been tested against hundreds of pathogens in internal and external studies to confirm the broad activity.
Its polymeric behavior of cross-linking, creates a long-lasting effect, an important core feature for disinfection efficacy. Due to the unique physico-chemical mode of action, pathogens cannot escape the effect and there is no occurrence of resistance.
Oxfocid® the new golden standard in safety and toxicology
From the beginning PolyOX development was driven by the idea to develop the first well tolerable biocide on the market and replace more “critical” seen biocides like Benzalkonium Chloride, Chlorhexidine and PHMB. After seven years of development, Oxfocid® is compared to other established products, a breakthrough product with a superior toxicological profile in combination with excellent efficacy and perfect chemical properties.
Oxfocid® the new polymeric biocide for the 21st century with following features:
Innovative biocidal polymer with product properties that makes it applicable for multiple markets and areas
Highly active against:
> All gram-positive and gram-negative bacteria, incl. multi-resistant bacteria
> Fungi and spores
> Viruses, especially respiratory viruses such as HRV, Influenza and Corona.
> With long lasting effect and no occurrence of resistance
Unique physico-chemical mode of action with no chance for pathogens to escape
The new golden standard in safety and toxicology; harmless, safe, environmentally friendly and without residues or other impurities
No allergic reactions, no genotoxicity, nor carcinogenic nor mutagenic potential
Easy and cheap chemistry, easy to mix and formulate with good analytical characterization
Excellent stability and safely transportable
Great product features (no taste, no smell, non-flammable, non-irritating and non-corrosive, good nebulization and fogging behavior)
Therapeutic area
The increase in resistant pathogens together with the increasing world population and dense populations in the world’s biggest cities have resulted in a desperate need for disinfecting agents. This need was made particularly obvious during the recent pandemic, which showed how vulnerable humanity is to new pathogens without effective disinfectants. Thus, in addition to the pure economic interests, there is an ethical obligation for public and private organizations to develop new disinfectants as quickly as possible.
Oxfocid® is a novel chemical ingredient with disinfectant properties. The easy to mix polymer will be positioned in the future as broad biocidal ingredient in products for personal care, household and cleaning, water treatment, food and beverage, agriculture, preservatives, healthcare and pharma and especially in infection prevention. As such it can be places in various markets and has substantial economic potential.
The need for new active ingredients on the biocide market has never been as high as it is now. Research and development (R&D) of next-generation biocidal products and introduction of novel manufacturing technologies are expected to provide lucrative opportunities to the biocides market players. Recent research in this regard has primarily been directed toward small scale- and industry-scale production of eco-friendly or green biocides by integrating green chemistry into product design. These green products should have less adverse environmental impact and are expected to experience high demand in the near future, thus offering stakeholders an opportunity to introduce improved products and expand their market share.
OxAG’s innovative product Oxfocid® meets this need and has improved compatibility, good stability and processability. It is therefore in an excellent position to replace blockbusters such as benzalkonium chloride, chlorhexidine and PHMB.
Beyond the development for approval as active biocidal ingredient, Oxfocid® has been tested in specific product applications. This work has been carried out with various national and international collaborators. Please find below a list of indications for which proof of concept products have been developed:
Wound management
Oxfocid® the innovative wound treatment for diabetic foot ulcer
Oxfocid® has been developed as med-tech. wound care product for the treatment of infections with multi-drug resistant bacteria in diabetic foot ulcer. In addition to its broad activity, the advantages of Oxfocid® in treatment is, above all, the crosslinking behavior of the polymer, which enables numerous formulation options.
At the moment Oxfocid® is formulated as cream, gel and innovative spray patch
Animal health care
Oxfocid® next generation Mastitis treatment for animal health in milk production
Oxfocid® has been developed as strategy against bacterial induced Mastitis, a disease characterized by increased antibiotic resistance of Staphylococcus sp. Mastitis causes serve economic issues in today’s farming. Oxfocid® potential application in animal health was determined as part of a governmental funded project in Austria (Austrian “K-Project” ADDA – Advancement of Dairying in Austria) It was funded as part of COMET – Competence Centers for Excellent Technologies by the Federal Ministry for Transport, Innovation and Technology (BMVIT), the Federal Ministry for Science, Research and Economy (BMWFW), the State of Lower Austria and the City of Vienna. PolyOX was tested in the area of udder health and treatment in a joint project with the Veterinarian University in Vienna.
The outcome of this proof-of-concept study was that the polymer destroys the infection causing Staphylococcus and all other microbial side infections by being well tolerated by the udder tissue and easily inactivated after a certain period of time without active residues. Oxfocid® could be a clinically effective, safe, cheap and easy product to handle in solution for farmers as its chemical properties and harmless toxic profile needs no special equipment or training for usage.
Fumigation technology
In this project a method for cold fogging was developed to be used in two large areas. On the one hand against infections in the hospital sector and on the other hand industrial applications such as disinfection of stables and transport containers.
With its broad-spectrum activity against pathogens and its excellent water solubility, Oxfocid® fumigation technology can be developed further to interrupt infection chains. Due to the products low production costs, it is suitable for large are disinfections. In addition, the product is easy to handle and can therefore be applied without complex safety protocols.
Agriculture applications
Oxfocid® has been developed for after-seed and post-harvest treatment.
Every year millions of tons of food get contaminated by bacteria (e.g. Salmonella) or fungi (e.g. Fusarium, Gibberella, Verticillium and Aspergillum). Especially food production facilities and storage units are often contaminated. As a result, human pathogens or high concentrations of carcinogenic myco-toxins find their way into the food chain often causing a subsequent contamination of the goods. The current strategies used by industry are fogging of storage units with highly toxic substances, and the treatment of recently harvested fruit and vegetables with anti-mycotic compounds by dipping or sprinkling. Oxfocid® fumigation technology can be improved to prevent contamination of fruits or vegetables by decontaminating processing units and/or transport containers. The University of Natural Resources and Life Sciences, Vienna confirmed the antifungal activity of Oxfocid® in their screening systems
Oxfocid® was also tested in standardized methods for fruit protection like the Carnauba-wax (E 903) treatment to replace commonly used highly toxic anti-mycotic substances, such as Capten, Thiabendazole (Mertec 340F), Fludioxonil (Scholar) and Pyrimethanil (Penbotec). A special formulation for this kind of post-harvest treatment has already been developed.
Disinfection products
OxAG and partners developed a disinfection spray for the cleaning products market. The product has been developed to proof-of-concept stage. The final formulation for a common disinfection product has been developed and the activity was confirmed by the Institute for Hygienic and Applied Immunology of the Medical University Vienna (Austrian governmental institute for product testing). The final product formulation was tested according to the regulation protocols EN1040 and EN1275 and was active against the nosocomial pathogen Staphylococcus aureus and Candida albicans.
Oxford Antibiotic Group 