ABL Medical Inc. a subsidiary of IlluminOss Medical Inc.
In 2018, IlluminOss Medical began offering a system in the US that used blue light delivered via a long fiber-optic catheter to harden light-curing liquid within balloon-like orthopedic implants. Now, data from ABL Medical demonstrates that blue light with fiber-optic technology may be adapted for antimicrobial applications.
Recent data presented on ABL demonstrates its fiber-optic technology delivering specific frequencies of antimicrobial blue light may be utilized within common medical devices such as catheters, endotracheal tubes and similar medical equipment. Extensive and long-standing laboratory data has shown certain frequencies of visible blue light have antimicrobial effects.1 However, the diverse bacterial species react differently to light frequencies, with some pathogens more or less affected.
Blue light inactivates pathogens by exciting their oxygen-transportation molecules. The molecules begin to overproduce unstable oxygen compounds (reactive oxygen species) that break apart basic cell building blocks, including DNA bonds. The damage is so rapid and widespread that microbe cells do not have the ability to defend themselves or develop resistance to the attack as has been shown to be the case with antibiotics.
The ABL system under development utilizes a unique, patented light source and optical delivery system with multiple frequencies of light delivered via a single fiber. Unlike existing illumination systems that emit light from a single point source (similar to how flashlights work), the ABL multifrequency system includes an optical light fiber which can circumferentially and evenly emit blue light within a catheter or cannulated medical instrument to achieve the antimicrobial process. This technology may allow blue light to safely be delivered to anatomic locations where this treatment could never be applied before.
The ABL light fiber emits specific antimicrobial frequencies of blue light within and around catheters.
Numerous patents have been issued for the ABL system. Its efficacy on bacteria has now been presented at two major 2023 meetings, including the European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases and the American Society of Microbiology conference. The next step will be to investigate the clinical safety and effectiveness of various applications through regulatory review processes in hopes of obtaining commercial access.
