The paper, titled 'Poly-N-acetylglucosamine mediates biofilm formation and antibiotic resistance in Actinobacillus pleuropneumoniae' is by Izano et al and co-authored by Dr. Kaplan of the University of Medicine and Dentistry of New Jersey (UMDNJ). It appeared recently in an online edition of the 'Microbial Pathogenesis' journal.

The research findings reports that that the mechanism of biofilm formation in A. pleuropneumoniae is similar to that of E. coli, S. aureus and S. epidermidis.

"We found that pre-treatment of A. pleuropneumoniae biofilms with DispersinBTM makes them almost 10 times more sensitive to killing by ampicillin antibiotic as compared to treatment with antibiotic alone" said Dr. Kaplan. "This indicates that biofilm-embedded A. pleuropneumoniae, an animal pathogen associated with the severe and contagious respiratory disease pleuropneumoniae in pigs, is resistant to the current widely used antibiotic therapy," he added.

Antibiotic resistance is a significant problem when attempting to treat infections involving biofilms with conventional drugs. The DispersinBTM treatment is shown to be very effective in degrading the biofilm and making the bacteria more susceptible to antibiotic/antimicrobial therapies and to host's immune responses.

Gord Froehlich, President and CEO of Kane Biotech said that the publication of this research study demonstrates how effective DispersinBTM can be for biofilm control. He said it is a viable option for veterianry practice as well as human and industrial applications - particularly with animal bacterial infections involving biofilms.

DispersinBTM was discovered by Dr. Kaplan at UMDNJ and technology has been exclusively licensed to Kane Biotech on a global basis for medical, industrial, agricultural and environmental applications. The product has a patent pending.