PuraCath Medical to Present Data on FireFly™ Peritoneal Dialysis Connector Disinfecting System during 53rd ERA-EDTA Congress
San Francisco, California (May 12, 2016)
– Data being presented will support planned introduction of PuraCath Medical’s technology in the European Union. PuraCath Medical, an emerging company in the development of technologies to reduce infections in patients with intravascular and peritoneal catheters, announced today that it will present
data on its next generation version of the FireFly
Peritoneal Dialysis (PD) Connector Disinfecting System during the upcoming 53rd ERA-EDTA Congress (European Renal Association – European Dialysis and Transplantation Association) being held in Vienna, Austria from May 21-24, 2016. The study being presented, entitled “
Effectiveness of UV Light in the Disinfection of Peritoneal Dialysis Catheter Connections
”
demonstrated the ability of the 2nd generation of the company’s PD device to achieve a greater than 4-log reduction in microorganisms which are commonly associated with peritonitis in patients receiving peritoneal dialysis. The annual ERA-EDTA Congress represents Europe’s largest nephrology meeting attracting over 8,000 registrants from around the world.
“Peritonitis continues to be a significant risk for patients receiving PD and remains the leading cause of technique failure and transfer to hemodialysis,” stated Julia Rasooly, PuraCath Medical’s CEO. “The data we will be presenting at this year’s ERA-EDTA Congress demonstrates that the FireFly System is effective in reducing air and touch contamination while patients perform PD exchanges, reducing their infection risk. We are in the process of obtaining regulatory approval for the FireFly System in the European Union and anticipate the ability to market our technology for use by PD patients in the E.U. later this year.”
“The presentation of data on the FireFly System at the ERA-EDTA meeting is an important milestone for PuraCath Medical since it represents the initial introduction of PuraCath’s technology to the medical and scientific community in Europe,” stated Bobby Yazdani, Founder and Managing Partner at Cota Capital and a member of PuraCath Medical’s Board of Directors. “Since the utilization rate for PD therapy in many E.U. countries is much higher than in the U.S., the opportunity for the company’s technology to assist in improving outcomes for PD patients is significant.”
The FireFly PD Connector Disinfecting System recently received U.S. Food and Drug Administration 510(k) clearance and is intended for use by patients as a method of controlling air and touch contamination while performing PD exchanges. PuraCath Medical is currently offering the device for sale via a limited market release.
What is Peritoneal Dialysis?
Peritoneal dialysis is a home-based dialysis therapy that offers patients a more flexible and physiologically smoother dialysis option. Unlike hemodialysis, peritoneal dialysis uses a patient’s peritoneal membrane to remove toxins and excess fluid from the patient. Peritoneal dialysis therapy permits patients to have a more regular diet and more flexible treatment times, improving their quality of life. Currently there are over 45,000 peritoneal dialysis patients in the U.S. with the number of patients on this therapy increasing over the past several years. The most common complications from peritoneal dialysis include infection around the catheter site or infection of the lining of the abdominal wall (peritonitis).
About PuraCath Medical
PuraCath Medical, a company based in San Francisco, CA, is dedicated to improving the quality of life of dialysis patients by reducing infections related to peritoneal dialysis (PD) and saving time through improved, simplified connections of PD catheters. The Company is utilizing their technology platform, which was spun out of Stanford University, to develop novel, easy-to-use technologies designed to reduce the risk of infections in patients with intravascular and peritoneal catheters in order to decrease infection-related hospitalizations and their associated costs.
For more information on PuraCath Medical, please visit www.puracath.com.
