About CytaCoat

A unique, stable and universal antimicrobial coating for prevention of HAIs

Our story

CytaCoat AB is a private Swedish company located in the Karolinska Institutet Science Park AB in Solna (Stockholm area). The company was founded by a group of researchers from the Karolinska Institute, one of the foremost medical universities in the world, and the Royal Institute of Technology (KTH). It was a special purpose vehicle started with a goal to develop a new technology of antibacterial coating for medical devices. It was based on a discovery that our proprietary polymer surface exhibits a clear effect on several of the most problematic pathogenic bacteria that pose problems in healthcare today. Since then, the company has been focused on transforming this innovation into a fully viable commercial product and make it available through licenses.

CytaCoat has a fully equipped laboratory in the Karolinska Institutet Science Park, where both microbiology evaluation, optimisation of the CytaCoat technology and a pilot plant production can be performed. The company has also established contacts with clinical collaborators at Karolinska University Hospital Neonatal Unit and the Division of Clinical Microbiology. CytaCoat has also been cooperating with experienced consultants in regulatory, clinical research organisations, patent experts and providers of specialist analyses.

Board of directors

Graeme Brookes

CEO

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Graeme Brookes has led and served as a board member of multiple medical device businesses. Previously, he was CEO at Reapplix A/S (Denmark) taking a device-based cell and growth factor therapy through development, regulatory clearances, clinical trial completion (published in The Lancet) and high-level US reimbursement. Prior to this he was VP Global R&D and marketing at Stanmore Implants (orthopaedics), CEO at Acrobot (orthopaedic robotics), Sales & Marketing Director at Advanced Medical Solutions plc (wound care) and held Business Development and Sales & Marketing leadership roles at Johnson & Johnson (Orthopaedics / Neurosurgery). Additionally, he worked in manufacturing, R&D and marketing at Amersham International (radiopharmaceuticals).

Peter Hentschel

Chairman

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Peter Hentschel has more than 40 years’ experience of the Medical Device Industry and has led several businesses both operationally as well as  serving as a Board member. Previously he was Senior Vice President of Mölnlycke Health Care, CEO of Etac AB and had senior positions within SCA Hygiene Products. He has served as a Board member at a large number of companies, and has been Chairman of the Board at RLS Global AB, Reapplix A/S, Diasend AB and Lumina Adhesives AB.

Per Wirsén

COO

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Per has a wealth of experience spanning 20 years in business development as co-founder and managing director of Wirsen and Males. In this capacity, he has worked as a business analyst and project manager for numerous companies.

Markus Fagerlund

Board member

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Markus Fagerlund acts as partnership and commercial advisor. He has more than 25 years of experience from sales & marketing positions in companies like Xerox, Datscha and Newsec and many years as a leader. He is entrepreneurial with long experience in building up new business areas. Fagerlund has an international education in Marketing & Communication.

Tomas Kramar

Board member

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40 years’ experience of leading large life science companies, as well as start-ups. Most recently Tomas held a position as CEO in Sweden of Siemens Healthcare AB. Tomas has also been a board member and chairman of the board in large and small companies.    

Jan Andersson

Board member

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Jan Andersson, MD, PhD; Professor Emeritus, Center for Infectious Medicine, Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet; Chairman for the Scientific Board for Segulah Medical Accelerator; Editor Journal of Internal Medicine; Former Director for Research and Development, Stockholm Region, Sweden

R&D

Linda Bergström

Program Manager and QA/RA

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Linda has 20 years combined experience from the pharmaceutical industry (Biovitrum, AstraZeneca) academia (Dept. of Microbiology, New York University), clinical microbiology (Karolinska University Hospital) and the medical device industry (Bactiguard). Main competence areas include microbiology, molecular biology, biocompatibility, clinical studies, quality management systems, licensing, regulatory affairs and characterization of mechanism of action of coatings. Experience in managing labs, project management, scientific communication and collaborations.

Åsa Wang

Chemist

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Åsa is an organic chemist with experiences in organic synthesis, NMR analysis and Wood chemistry. She holds a B.Sc. and a M.Sc in organic chemistry from Stockholm University.

Jan Tejbrant

R&D Medicinal Chemist

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A chemist with more than 20 years of experience in research and development, combinatorial chemistry, synthesis and product development within demanding and fast-paced organisations. He was awarded Swedish Chemist of the Year 2000 by Pharmacia & Upjohn.

Elvira Roca

R&D Microbiologist

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Elvira is a biologist specialized in research and microbiology with a solid background in clinical laboratory environments. Experienced in laboratory practices, specimen analysis, diagnosis and result reporting, as well as in most widely used laboratory equipment, technologies and tools. In her thesis she conducted research with multi-resistant bacteria to determine resistance mechanisms against commonly used antibiotics and tested new potential antimicrobial substances.

Serhiy Surkov

R&D Microbiologist

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Serhiy has over 15 years of experience in a vast array of microbiology, biochemistry and molecular biology methods, specializing in molecular genetics of microorganisms, and proteomics. In his doctorate he showed the way tmRNA is positioned during late steps of trans-translation in E. coli, using cryo-EM tomography and RNA probing techniques. Serhiy is in charge of the antimicrobial testing and validation of the CytaCoat technology, he is also developing new methods and specific culture mediums.

Narmin Asadli

Chemist

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Narmin is an organic chemist with more than five years of experience in purification and synthesis developments, e.g., new o-hydroxyazo and o,o´-dihydroxyazo compounds containing thymol and eugenol groups. She holds a M.Sc in organic chemistry from Ondokuz Mayis University.

Åke Norberg

R&D Medical Biochemistry

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Åke is a chemist with more than 30 years of experience in research and development. Åke has a B.Sc. degree in Chemistry (organic chemistry), and PhD in Medical biochemistry

Ana Romero

Scientific Advisor

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Dr. Ana Romero has expertise in academic and industry product development. She was one of the principal investigators in the discovery and development of the EMA-approved drug Ceplene. Ana has also been involved in the data management and evaluation of worldwide clinical trials and big data studies. She holds a PharmD and a PhD from Gothenburg University with postdoctoral research work at the Cancer Institute Gustave Roussy, Paris. 

Alan Rhodes

Scientific Advisor

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Dr Alan Rhodes has over 16 years’ experience developing and commercialising surface modification and coating technologies, within the medical device industry. He is Director and Principal Consultant at DSR Biomaterials, providing strategic and technical support in surface modification and coating strategies. Alan is a Chartered Chemist (CChem), Chartered Scientist (CSci) and co-inventor on five patents. 

Scientific Advisory Board

Jacob Odeberg

Co-Founder

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Jacob obtained his PhD in 1998 in the area of gene expression technology. In parallel to finishing his medical studies, he built up a research group at the Department of Biotechnology (Karolinska) focusing on the role of common genetic variation in gene regulation and disease susceptibility. He joined the Cardiovascular Genetics and Genomics group, Karolinska Institutet in 2002, to which he remains associated today. He became Associate professor in Molecular Biotechnology in 2006. In 2013 he was appointed as Professor combined with a position as Consultant in Hematology and Internal Medicine at the Coagulation unit, Karolinska University Hospital Solna.

Birgitta Agerberth

Co-Founder

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Birgitta is a Professor of Medical Microbial Pathogenesis at Karolinska Institutet, also an inventor of the CytaCoat technology and is a member of the CytaCoat board. She has extensive experience in the academic (at present 116 publications in scientific journals) and industry sectors. In addition to CytaCoat, she is also one of the founders of Akthelia Pharmaceutical, an Icelandic company developing substances which prevent and cure microbial infections

Jan Andersson

Board member

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Jan Andersson, MD, PhD; Professor Emeritus, Center for Infectious Medicine, Department of Medicine, Huddinge, Karolinska Institutet; Chairman for the Scientific Board for Segulah Medical Accelerator; Editor Journal of Internal Medicine; Former Director for Research and Development, Stockholm Region, Sweden

Q&A

What is CytaCoat?

CytaCoat is a Swedish company that has developed a unique antimicrobial coating to prevent Healthcare Associated Infections (HAI’s) with the use of medical devices.

What is a Healthcare-Associated (HAI’s) Infection?

Healthcare-associated infection (HAI) is an infection occurring in a patient during the process of care in a hospital or other health care facility which was not present or incubating at the time of admission. More than half of all HAIs are caused by medical devices.

Why are medical devices causing HAI’s and how come they are so difficult to treat?

The primary cause is colonisation and formation of microbial biofilms on the surface of medical devices. Antibiotic treatment is very often inefficient due to the protection bacteria get from the biofilm.

How much do HAI’s cost?

The European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control (ECDC) estimates the direct costs of HAIs to €7 billion per year. In the US the annual cost is estimated to $10 billons.

Why is CytaCoat better than existing antimicrobial coatings?

This strong chemical bond in the antibacterial coating provides stability and prevents the release of components with potential toxic or accumulation effects in the patient. This avoids the use of antibiotics and the ability of bacteria to develop resistance.

How big is the global problem of antibiotic resistance?

70% of the bacteria that cause HAIs are resistant to at least one of the drugs. If no action is taken, ten million people around the world will be at risk of dying each year from multi-resistant bacteria by 2050 (source WHO).

For which medical devices can CytaCoat be applied?

The coating applies to a broad range of medical devices such as urinary catheters, venous catheters, dressings and ventilators.

Which is CytaCoat’s business model?

CytaCoat’s business model is to gain revenue from application-specific licensing to manufacturers established in the medical device market.

At what stage is CytaCoat?

Cytacoat is planning to perform clinical trials in 2023 with the objective of demonstrating a strong reduction of HAI’s. A pilot plant facility is going to be set up in 2022.

Contact us

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CytaCoat AB, Maria Aspmans gata 44A, 171 64 Solna SWEDEN | E-mail info@cytacoat.se

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