Ondine and Mela Advance NHS ICU Market Access
Summary by AI BETAClose X
29 September 2026
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ONDINE BIOMEDICAL INC.
("Ondine Biomedical", "Ondine", or "the Company")
Ondine Biomedical Leverages Mela Solutions' 90% NHS ICU Footprint to Advance Commercial Evaluation and Quantify Steriwave® Financial Impact
Strategic data collaboration taps into national critical care software infrastructure across ~4,500 NHS beds to assess rapid hospital ROI, capacity utilisation, and infection reduction.
Ondine Biomedical Inc. (AIM: OBI), a leader in light-activated antimicrobial therapies to prevent hospital infections, today announces a strategic data and evaluation collaboration with Mela Solutions Ltd. ("Mela Solutions"), who for over 25 years have supported UK healthcare teams and whose Medicus platform is embedded in 90% of National Health Service ("NHS") intensive care units ("ICUs"). The NHS operates approximately 300 adult critical care units and 5,000 ICU beds, including about 4,000 beds in England.[1]
Under this collaboration, Mela Solutions will customise their data platform to enable participating hospitals to rapidly evaluate Steriwave® nasal photodisinfection against their own historical ICU baseline metrics. By leveraging Mela's established clinical database footprint across the NHS, participating Trusts can bypass typical data collection delays to rapidly quantify workflow integration, clinical impact, cost savings, and capacity creation. In the first year, the partnership is targeting 6 to 10 hospitals with larger intensive care units (30 or more beds), which together admit up to 20,000 critical care patients a year.
The initiative builds on momentum from Ondine's Phase 3 LANTERN trial (topline results demonstrated a 40.5% reduction in surgical site infections across 18 Canadian and U.S. hospitals) and the Royal Columbian Hospital's 227-patient SMURF feasibility study published in Critical Care. The published SMURF study showed that nasal photodisinfection integrated into routine ICU care, delivering a statistically significant reduction in early cumulative nasal pathogen burden (p < 0.01) alongside an observed 39.5% reduction in ICU pneumonia rates.
Carolyn Cross, CEO of Ondine Biomedical, stated: "With recent data showing nearly 16% of ICU patients acquiring a hospital infection [2] and average bed throughput at ~65 patients annually, healthcare-associated infections represent a multi-billion-pound drain on NHS capacity. For NHS hospitals, this rate translates into 8 or more preventable infections per ICU bed every year, extending stays by 9 to 21 days and straining operational budgets. With an NHS critical care bed costing £1,881 per day, [3] and ventilator-associated pneumonia adding nearly £9,000 per patient, [4] effective nasal decolonisation holds the potential for a strong ROI. Preventing ICU-acquired infections may cost-effectively increase effective NHS ICU capacity without requiring additional beds. With the high cost of operating each ICU bed, patient throughput is a key operational performance metric for hospitals and we believe, a key driver for the potential adoption of nasal photodisinfection."
The UK Health Security Agency ("UKHSA") sources say that infectious diseases cost NHS secondary care nearly £6 billion annually (2023-2024) and consume over 20% of bed days.[5] By partnering with Mela Solutions, NHS hospital decision-makers can verify Steriwave's cost-benefit ratio in weeks rather than years, significantly shortening the sales and evaluation cycle for commercial deployment.
Edward Willans, Managing Director of Mela Solutions, commented: "Mela's role is to empower NHS critical care teams to convert their raw data into actionable clinical and financial insights. We are pleased to work with Ondine to show how our established ICU data infrastructure can accelerate the evidence-based evaluation and adoption of proven clinical innovations across the NHS."
Carolyn Cross, CEO of Ondine Biomedical, added: "Partnering with Mela gives us an efficient, data-driven pathway across NHS ICU infrastructure. This data collaboration equips NHS Trusts with the local evidence needed to evaluate rapid deployment in approved markets. By demonstrating measurable financial and clinical value directly through the NHS's own data systems, we can more effectively target this substantial critical care market."
For healthcare providers in the UK, Steriwave is available through Ondine's distribution partner, Mölnlycke Health Care, a global leader in medical solutions. For more information contact: Healthcare Professionals Contact or antiseptics.uk@molnlycke.com or call +44 0800 917 4918.
-- ENDS -
Enquiries:
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Ondine Biomedical Inc. |
www.ondinebio.com |
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Carolyn Cross, CEO |
+1 604 669 0555 |
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Strand Hanson Limited (Nominated & Financial Adviser) |
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James Harris, Richard Johnson, Imogen Ellis |
+44 (0)20 7409 3494 |
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Peel Hunt LLP (Broker & Joint Financial Adviser) |
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James Steel, Dr. Chris Golden |
+44 (0)20 7418 8900 |
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5654 & Company (Financial PR and IR Adviser) |
ondinebiomedical@5654.co.uk |
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Matthew Neal, Chris Gardner, Melissa Gardiner, Lucy Featherstone |
+44 (0)791 7800 011 +44 (0)775 7697 357 +44 (0)7474 953 578
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About Mela Solutions Ltd. Mela Solutions Ltd. is a leading UK-based health-tech company specialising in critical care data management and clinical database systems. It has been serving UK healthcare systems for 25 years. Its flagship clinical platform, Medicus, is trusted across 90% of NHS Intensive Care Units, powering clinical reporting, national audit compliance and quality improvement with electronic patient record integrations. By translating patient data into actionable insights, Mela enables NHS Trusts to measure operational efficiency, track clinical outcomes, and support evidence-based technology adoption.
About Steriwave® and its Mode of Action Steriwave nasal photodisinfection is a light-activated antimicrobial therapy designed to rapidly eliminate potentially pathogenic microorganisms in the nose, a major reservoir from which pathogens spread to surgical sites and lower respiratory tracts. Applied by a healthcare professional, the treatment uses a proprietary photosensitising agent activated by red light to produce a rapid antimicrobial effect through oxidative mechanisms. Because the mechanisms act through non-antibiotic oxidative pathways, Steriwave has a low potential for the development of microbial resistance.
About Ondine Biomedical Inc. Ondine Biomedical Inc. is a Canadian life sciences company focused on the development of light-activated antimicrobial therapies ('photodisinfection') for the prevention and treatment of hospital-acquired infections. Ondine's lead product, Steriwave®, is authorised for nasal decolonisation in Canada and key international markets. In the United States, the technology has been granted Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) designation and Fast Track status by the FDA. Ondine recently announced positive topline results from its 5,188-patient Phase 3 LANTERN trial, meeting its prespecified primary efficacy endpoint.
U.S. Regulatory Status Ondine's nasal photodisinfection technology is not approved by the U.S. FDA and is not commercially available for sale in the United States. In the United States, it is limited by federal law to investigational use only.
References
1. Intensive Care National Audit & Research Centre (ICNARC) Key Statistics; NHS England Critical Care Bed Numbers.
2. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA). UKHSA publishes latest survey on healthcare-associated infections. 5 March 2025. (link)
3. UK Parliament. Written Question 165361, Hospital Beds: Costs. Answered by the Department of Health and Social Care, 30 March 2023.
4. Luckraz H, et al. Cost of treating ventilator-associated pneumonia post cardiac surgery in the National Health Service: Results from a propensity-matched cohort study. J Intensive Care Soc. 2018;19(2):94-100.
5. UK Health Security Agency (UKHSA) Corporate Report: Infectious diseases impacting England: 2025 report. UKHSA publishes first annual report summarising latest infectious disease trends - GOV.UK Infectious diseases impacting England: 2025 report - GOV.UK
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