It is a new production or formulation of the popular antimicrobial agent Chlorhexidine. Chlorhexidine has been used for years in many different segments of medicine to treat and prevent infections, but its “window” of effectiveness is short. Pertinax is used to make Chlorhexidine provide longer protection against infections.
Pertinax was formulated by Dr Barbour, who won the Materials Science Venture Prize of 25,000 GBP from The Worshipful Company of Armourers and Brasiers for her work. According to Dr Barbour, “Pertinax can greatly extend the lifetime of Chlorhexidine, enabling it to provide reliable protection against infection for very much longer than was previously possible.”
Dr Barbour feels that her discovery enables the use of Chlorhexidine for a wider range of applications while helping to increase the efficacy of current products and treatments.
Dr Barbour intends to initially focus on the field of dentistry. She has culled research indicating that longer-lasting antimicrobial products are sorely needed in the dental industry and can be used for bridges, fillings, crowns, orthodontic braces and other dental fixtures. It is her intent that Pertinax will help prevent bacterial infections in dental situations for a longer time than any current solutions.
Dr Barbour created Pertinax with an “unusually low rate of solubility.” This allows it to release more slowly over a longer timespan.
The Chairman of the Armourers and Brasiers Venture Prize judging panel, Professor Bill Bonfield, feels that Pertinax is a “significant development” and that it has the potential to treat and prevent infections in “millions of people.” Professor Bonfield went on to explain that the Venture Prize is designed to encourage and help fund scientific entrepreneurship in the United Kingdom and bring more products like Pertinax to market.
Pertinax is now a company and they have hired CEO Ashley Cooper to market the product. Mr Cooper sees many other uses besides dentistry for Pertinax, including wound care and catheters. Mr Cooper intends to use the prize money to develop a manufacturing process that is robust and scalable.