Infections typically cause a large delay in the wound healing process. But what's the best way to make sure one doesn't get an infection while healing from an injury? The answer is found in antimicrobial dressings or those materials that have silver coatings that prevent the spread of bacteria.

But even those can be problematic when it comes to placing those dressings on difficult and not easily accessible parts of the body.

Smith & Nephew's (S&N; London) advanced wound management division; Nucryst Pharmaceuticals (Wakefield, Massachusetts) has reported FDA clearance for its latest version of Acticoat Flex. The first Acticoat clearance in the U.S. came nearly a decade ago.

Flex serves as an antimicrobial barrier dressing that is designed to conform to body contours and allow for flexible movement for injuries that require sustained antimicrobial activity.

Acticoat Flex represents a new addition to the Acticoat family and is coated with Nucryst's patented Silcryst nanoncrystalline silver technology.

Silver has proven to be a deterrent for the spread of bacteria and has properties that have been used to curve the spread of Methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus infections.

"We've been working on this with Smith & Nephew for quite some time now on this. We're pleased to help them launch the product and that we've received clearance from the FDA," David Holtz, Interim President/CEO of Nucryst told Medical Device Daily. "The launch of Acticoat Flex by Smith & Nephew is the latest result of the successful partnership between Smith & Nephew and Nucryst to provide advanced antimicrobial protection to acute trauma and burn patients, as well as to patients with complex chronic wounds."

These dressings are preferable when treating wounds in areas of the body that require a high level of conformability, and when it is important to minimize trauma to the wound when removing the dressing, according to the company.

Antimicrobial barrier dressings are used to help prevent infection, a major cause of delays in the wound healing process. Acticoat dressings with Nucryst's proprietary Silcryst nanocrystalline silver coatings provide effective antimicrobial activity thereby providing an improved environment for the wound to heal. Acticoat dressings are now sold by S&N in more than 30 countries and are used extensively for serious wounds and traumatic injury.

Both Acticoat Flex 3 and Acticoat Flex 7 were cleared for use by Health Canada in late 2008.

"We are delighted with the U.S. FDA clearance for Acticoat Flex. We have had excellent feedback from Canada where Acticoat Flex was launched at the end of 2008. The approval from the FDA allows us to further roll out the technology and support the fight against healthcare acquired infection" said Roger Teasdale, President of Smith Nephew's Advanced Wound Management business. "This product launch is a key to our focus on Infection Management, one of the three focused elements of the Wound Management Global Business Unit strategy along with Exudate Management and Negative Pressure Wound Therapy."

The approval is a victory for S&N and comes at a time when the company is involved in a patent dispute with Kinetic Concepts (KCI; San Antonio). Earlier this week, the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office upheld a trio of KCI patents in what has been called the worldwide battle over negative pressure wound therapy patents.

After re-examining a trio of KCI negative-pressure wound therapy patents, USPTO confirmed their validity.

That makes the score just about even, as KCI has received victories here and in Australia, while the British conglomerate won decisions in Germany and the UK over equivalent intellectual property.

Kinetic Concepts said the patent at issue in the case is exclusively licensed to KCI from Wake Forest University Health Sciences (Winston-Salem, North Carolina) (Medical Device Daily, May 4, 2009).

S&N, which houses its endoscopy division in Andover, Massachusetts, said that it has plans to appeal the latest U.S. Patent Office decision.