Thursday 21 January 2016

BioLargo Closes Financing To Advance Its Novel Wound Care Products

REDONDO BEACH, CA / ACCESSWIRE / January 20, 2016 / BioLargo, Inc. (BLGO) recently announced that its subsidiary, Clyra Medical Technologies, secured a $5.75 million financing package for Its Advanced Wound Care Products. Cash of $750,000 is earmarked for FDA Application and approval, and a $5 million line of credit is dedicated to commercialization once FDA approval is complete.
Wound Care refers to the promotion of effective healing and the prevention of infections in post surgery and trauma wounds, diabetic ulcers, pressure ulcers (bed sores), and any chronic wound that has difficulty healing. CLYRA Medical Technologies boasts that its products feature the most potent, broadest spectrum, antibacterial, antifungal & antiviral advanced oxidation system known and yet are gentle and cost effective.
The National Center for Health Statistics reports that 51.4 million inpatient surgical procedures were performed in the United States in 2010, followed closely by 31.5 million outpatient surgeries. Estimates for the size of the Wound Care market range widely from $6 billion to as high as $25 billion, but whatever the number is, the need for post-surgical wound care is large and sharply on the rise.
A further complication of Wound Care is that since over 50 million surgical procedures are performed in hospitals each year, and since an open wound is a known pathway for transmission of infection, hospitals are the focus of a national effort to reduce Hospital Acquired Infections such as MRSA and Clostridium difficile, and the economic burden caused by them.
The CDC tells us that each year there are over 1.7 million Hospital Acquired Infections and more than 100,000 deaths. Reducing infections in wound care could result in significantly fewer deaths as well as a reduction in government healthcare spending that is estimated by the CDC to be close to $20 billion annually. An article published by the U.S. National Library of Medicine, "Human Skin Wounds: A Major and Snowballing Threat to Public Health and the Economy," details the acute need for more effective Advanced Wound Care. 
In the first week of 2016, Frost & Sullivan awarded BioLargo, Inc. its 2015 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation. This coveted award recognizes BioLargo's game-changing iodine-based technology in the water treatment industry. The Award was limited to the water industry and did not even attempt to address BioLargo's robust and award winning technologies for disinfection, decontamination, odor control, and wound care. 
In August 2015, a team of researchers at the University of Alberta unveiled BioLargo's AOS Filter/Reactor that uses one of the company's three different platform technologies based on iodine. Findings from over 100 studies on the AOS Filter for water disinfection were presented and demonstrated its ability to disinfect pathogens 100 times more effectively than chlorine, at 10 times the speed, and at only 1/20th of the cost of the closest competitor. One year earlier, the AOS Filter/Reactor received the Technology Star Award from New Technology Magazine, known as the First Word on Oil Patch Innovation.
University of Alberta Professor Lynn McMullen, evaluated test results and commented, "At the foundation of the AOS Filter is its efficiency in generating a highly oxidative state. Extremely high levels of performance [disinfection] were achieved during testing and we are excited to expand the work with BioLargo to other applications targeting food safety concerns." The tests demonstrated unprecedented effectiveness in destroying highly concentrated contaminants in sample water, including Listeria and Salmonella. Test results at the University of Alberta demonstrated that the iodine based AOS Filter killed 10,000,000 salmonella cells in 2 minutes compared to the industry standard chlorine dioxide that killed 100,000 cells in 60 minutes. That is 100 times more effective and 30 times faster than the industry standard methodology. And the energy requirements are negligible. 
Formulations of CLYRA's antimicrobial hydrogel and liquid wound cleanser products have passed rigorous third party laboratory testing validating both efficacy and safety. Independent testing has verified both rapid and effective control against a host of dangerous pathogens commonly encountered in the wound care field. Testing of the company's liquid formula verified efficacy against antimicrobial resistant species referred to by the CDC as the "ESKAPE" pathogens - enterococcus faecium (VRE), staphylococcus aureus (MRSA), klebsiella species, acinetobacter baumannii, pseudomonas aeruginosa, and enterobacter. The next step is to now prepare these products for FDA application.
BioLargo is targeting early 2017 for its new Advanced Wound Care products to be commercially available.
The business of Wound Care is highly fragmented with several dozen companies competing for a share of this fast growing market.
Smith & Nephew (NYSE:SNN) is one of the current leaders in Wound Care and offers a wide range of products for the treatment of acute and chronic wounds, including leg, diabetic and pressure ulcers, burns, and post-operative wounds. The company also provides traditional and single-use negative pressure wound therapy and hydrosurgery systems; and biologics and other bioactive technology products for debridement and dermal repair/regeneration. The company primarily serves the providers of medical and surgical treatments and services. Smith & Nephew reported annual sales of $4.6 billion for the year ending December 2014. 
Derma Sciences (DSCI) is a tissue regeneration company providing products for the management of acute and chronic wounds, and burns. Their portfolio provides a broad product line including MEDIHONEY(R), XTRASORB(R), BIOGUARD(R), ALGICELL(R) AgTCC-EZ(R), AMNIOEXCEL(R), and AMNIOMATRIX(R). Derma Science's products are intended to help advance healing for patients suffering from complex chronic or acute wounds such as diabetic foot ulcers, venous leg ulcers, pressure ulcers and burns. Derma Sciences reported sales of $84 million for the year ending December 2014. Annual sales of $84 million in a $6 billion market, indicates the absence of a breakthrough product yet. 
Osiris Therapeutics, Inc. (OSIR) uses allogeneic stem cell technology in their line of Advanced Wound Care products that include Grafix, a cryopreserved placental membrane for treating hard-to-treat acute and chronic wounds, venous leg ulcers and other products for bone healing. Osiris reported 2014 year-end revenues of $60 million. 
Vericel Corporation (VCEL) Vericel Corporation is a stem cell company developing patient-specific expanded cellular therapies for use in the treatment of patients with severe diseases and conditions. It markets two autologous cell therapy products in the United States, including Carticel (autologous cultured chondrocytes), an autologous chondrocyte implant for the treatment of cartilage defects in the knee; and Epicel (cultured epidermal autografts), a permanent skin replacement for the treatment of patients with deep-dermal or full-thickness burns comprising greater than or equal to 30 percent of total body surface area. Vericel reported annual revenues of $29 million for the year ending December 2014.
With the new $5.75 million funding package in place, and what appears to be a very valuable technology, BioLargo's Subsidiary Clyra Medical Technologies now has the financial resources to complete the preparation work and apply to the FDA for approval to market its Advanced Wound Care products and when successful, has the potential to gain a meaningful portion of a large and fast-growing market that is in need of better products and technologies. The depth and breadth of the BioLargo technology portfolio looks to have multiple game changers in the wings.

Wednesday 6 January 2016

BioLargo Secures Financing for Its Advanced Wound Care Products Targeting FDA Application, Approval and Commercialization Through Its Subsidiary Clyra Medical Technologies



A BioLargo Company


SANTA ANA, CA--(Marketwired - Jan 6, 2016)BioLargo, Inc. (OTCQBBLGO) subsidiary Clyra Medical Technologies, Inc. has successfully concluded a financing from Sanatio Capital LLC for $750,000 in equity and a forward commitment to provide a $5,000,000 operating line of credit, to support the FDA approval and commercial launch of Clyra's advanced wound care products.
Clyra Medical Technologies holds the exclusive license to commercialize BioLargo's technology in the Advanced Wound Care industry. Effective December 30, 2015, Sanatio purchased 40% of the issued and outstanding shares of Clyra in exchange for its investment and its commitment to fund the operating line of credit. Details of the transactions are set forth in the Form 8-K filed by BioLargo, Inc. with the Securities and Exchange Commission and can be viewed at www.SEC.govclick here.
Dennis P. Calvert, President & CEO of BioLargo, commented, "This is another important milestone for BioLargo and Clyra as we continue to advance our mission to 'Make Life Better' with our sustainable, disruptive, patent-protected technologies. We believe our Clyra products represent a technical advancement in the way wounds can be better managed to promote healing and that they will reduce human suffering around the world."
Steve Harrison, President of Clyra Medical Technologies, commented, "We believe that this financing will provide the capital needed to help Clyra secure the appropriate regulatory approvals and launch what we believe will become a game changer for the Advanced Wound Care industry. This segment is a $6 billion market and we believe we will be able to offer better technical solution to this market."
About Sanatio Capital 
Sanatio Capital was created around the goal of identifying and supporting game-changing, high-impact technology. This vision is driven forward by powerful management teams focused on addressing challenges facing humanity and relieving human suffering around the world by creating innovative products. The company was founded by the Strommen family, the founders and leaders of PD Instore. With 75+ years of experience in product development, they bring product expertise and a network of relationships to leading retail companies around the world, helping 'big brands dream big.'
About BioLargo
BioLargo, Inc. (BLGO) makes life better by delivering sustainable technology-based products that help solve some of the most widespread problems threatening the world's supply of water, food, agriculture, healthcare and energy. More information can be found about the company and its subsidiaries at www.BioLargo.com. Its subsidiary BioLargo Water, Inc. (www.BioLargoWater.com) showcases the Advanced Oxidation Systems, including its AOS Filter -- a product in development specifically designed to eliminate common, troublesome, and dangerous (toxic) contaminants in water in a fraction of the time and cost of current technologies. It is the winner of the Technology Star award by New Technology Magazine for its breakthrough innovation for the oil industry and is named the Technology Innovation Leader in the water treatment market by Frost & Sullivan. BioLargo also owns a 50% interest in the Isan System, which was honored with a "Top 50 Water Company for the 21st Century" award by the Artemis Project now being commercialized under a license to Clarion Water, Inc. BioLargo's subsidiary Odor-No-More Inc., features award-winning products serving the pet, equine, military supply and consumer markets, including the Nature's Best Solution® and Deodorall® brands (www.OdorNoMore.com). BioLargo's subsidiary Clyra Medical Technologies, Inc. (www.ClyraMedical.com) focuses on advanced wound care management and is preparing to make FDA 510(k) applications in 2016.
Safe Harbor Statement
The statements contained herein, which are not historical, are forward-looking statements that are subject to risks and uncertainties that could cause actual results to differ materially from those expressed in the forward-looking statements, including, but not limited to, the risks and uncertainties included in BioLargo's current and future filings with the Securities and Exchange Commission, including those set forth in BioLargo's Annual Report on Form 10-K for the year ended December 31, 2014.

Monday 4 January 2016

Frost & Sullivan Applauds BioLargo's Innovative, Iodine-based Water Treatment Technology in the North American Market - The AOS Filter was developed using the mechanics of the earth's natural iodine cycle

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif., Jan. 4, 2016 /PRNewswire/ -- Based on its recent analysis of the water treatment market, Frost & Sullivan recognizes BioLargo Water, Inc. (a wholly-owned subsidiary of BioLargo, Inc. Symbol: BLGO) with the 2015 North American Frost & Sullivan Award for New Product Innovation. BioLargo Water, Inc.'s Advanced Oxidation System (AOS) Filter is a low-cost, high-impact and sustainable clean water technology that has captured the interest of academia, governments, and the industry. With applications ranging from food and agriculture to ballast water treatment, the AOS Filter demonstrates industry-leading decontamination and disinfection capabilities and is poised for a scale-up and successful commercialization in the tertiary and advanced waste water treatment (WWT) market.
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BioLargo
The revolutionary, patented AOS Filter combines iodine, water filter materials and electrolysis within a water filter device to provide significant cost-benefits and efficacy improvements over existing WWT technologies. BioLargo, Inc., the parent company, holds 15 US patents with more than three additional pending patent applications.
"The AOS Filter generates high levels of oxidation potential across surfaces within the device by converting a typical carbon matrix filter into an electrochemical reactor," said Frost & Sullivan Senior Industry Analyst, Seth Cutler. "This amplification of the oxidation potential of iodine, a key natural disinfectant, creates different and powerful forms of iodine, greatly enhancing its efficacy."
Furthermore, improving upon traditional activated carbon filters, the AOS Filter performs a disinfection task similar to UV or ozone at much lower price points. It demonstrates impressive levels of disinfection, removing infectious biological pathogens such as Salmonella, Listeria, and E.coli in water. It is also extremely effective in removing soluble organics such as napthenic acids, dioxane, sulfur compounds, ammonia, benzene, fungi, and spores.
Unlike absorption or membrane filtration technologies, the AOS Filter does away with the need to dispose of concentrates or solids, boosting performance regardless of salinity. In a recent study, the AOS Filter eliminated 10 million Salmonella cells within a two-minute time point. The industry standard, chlorine dioxide, only eliminated 100,000 cells within a 60 minute period. The success of the early Salmonella trials prompted the company to explore treatment opportunities for other toxins and chemicals impacting water treatment.
While offering the flexibility to conserve and regenerate the iodine within the device, it removes all iodine or, where appropriate, delivers as a residual treatment for diverse applications including the treatment of livestock drinking water or in cooling towers.
Focused on identifying and recruiting licensing partners for commercialization purposes, BioLargo Water, Inc. is targeting strategic segments such as the food processing industry and ballast water treatment industry. By focusing on discrete applications that lack adequate technologies for problem resolution, BioLargo Water, Inc. has been able to position the AOS Filter as an important emerging technology and significant value proposition.
Each year, Frost & Sullivan presents this award to the company that has developed an innovative element in a product by leveraging leading-edge technologies. The award recognizes the value-added features/benefits of the product and the increased ROI it offers customers, which, in turn, enhances customer acquisition and overall market penetration potential.
Frost & Sullivan Best Practices awards recognize companies in a variety of regional and global markets for demonstrating outstanding achievement and superior performance in areas such as leadership, technological innovation, customer service and strategic product development. Industry analysts compare market participants and measure performance through in-depth interviews, analysis and extensive secondary research to identify best practices in the industry.
About BioLargo
BioLargo, Inc. (BLGO) makes life better by delivering technology-based products that help solve some of the world's most important problems that threaten water, food, agriculture, healthcare and energy. More information can be found about the company and its subsidiaries at http://www.biolargo.com/. The subsidiary BioLargo Water, Inc. (http://www.biolargowater.com/) showcases the Advanced Oxidation Systems, including its AOS Filter, a product being developed specifically to eliminate common, troublesome, and dangerous (toxic) contaminants in water in a fraction of the time and cost of current technologies. It is the winner of the Technology Star award by New Technology Magazine for its breakthrough innovation for the oil industry. BioLargo also owns a 50% interest in the Isan System, which was honored with a "Top 50 Water Company for the 21st Century" award by the Artemis Project. The subsidiary Odor-No-More Inc., features award-winning products serving the pet, equine, and consumer markets, including the Nature's Best Solution® and Deodorall® brands. (http://www.odornomore.com/). The subsidiary Clyra Medical Technologies, Inc. (http://www.clyramedical.com/), focuses on advanced wound care management and is preparing to make FDA 510(k) applications in 2016.
About Frost & Sullivan
Frost & Sullivan, the Growth Partnership Company, works in collaboration with clients to leverage visionary innovation that addresses the global challenges and related growth opportunities that will make or break today's market participants.
Our "Growth Partnership" supports clients by addressing these opportunities and incorporating two key elements driving visionary innovation: The Integrated Value Proposition and The Partnership Infrastructure.
  • The Integrated Value Proposition provides support to our clients throughout all phases of their journey to visionary innovation including: research, analysis, strategy, vision, innovation and implementation.
  • The Partnership Infrastructure is entirely unique as it constructs the foundation upon which visionary innovation becomes possible. This includes our 360 degree research, comprehensive industry coverage, career best practices as well as our global footprint of more than 40 offices.
For more than 50 years, we have been developing growth strategies for the global 1000, emerging businesses, the public sector and the investment community. Is your organization prepared for the next profound wave of industry convergence, disruptive technologies, increasing competitive intensity, Mega Trends, breakthrough best practices, changing customer dynamics and emerging economies?

Friday 1 January 2016

Happy New Year from BioLargo! Go BLGO


Food Safety Lessons Learned in 2015: Article by Steve Kanaval @ Equities.com

Food Safety Lessons Learned in 2015

Steve Kanaval | 
I have been following the volatile stock movements in Chipotle (CMG) share price in 2015. It makes me think about how public companies can reduce their exposure to loss of valuation, customer base and revenue.
There are practical solutions in the market place and I expect companies like Chipotle to implement layers of safety so they can avoid the store closings and legal reprisals they experienced during this year as a result of selling tainted food. One of these layers of safety could come from BioLargo (BLGO) who offer an inexpensive water purification system with high potential for application in the Food Service sector.
Chipotle share prices are down nearly 20% for the year, and the trouble for shareholders started in October when they closed multiple stores in Seattle as a result of food-borne illness caused by contaminated product. This sent share prices down from $750 to the current $550, losing the company about $5 billion in value.
The high priority of food safety constantly drives the Food Service industry to search for new tools to reduce the incidence of food-borne illness. The percentage of food that is recalled due to pathogens may be very small, but the volume of the food supply is so large that even when a rare incident of contamination does strike, it can be devastating — to companies as well as to consumers.
In spite of diligent food safety efforts, more than 48 million people suffer from food-borne illness each year, according to the Centers for Disease Control. Robert Scharff, a professor of Consumer Science at Ohio State University, estimates the total annual health-related costs of food-borne illness to be $77 billion. Food safety is therefore an area of great interest and is becoming big business.
Another example of a catastrophic recall took place in 2011, when Cargill voluntarily recalled 36 million pounds of turkey due to Salmonella contamination. Details of how the Salmonella contaminated the turkey aren’t entirely known, but new measures by have been implemented by Cargill. These include additional pathogen reduction steps throughout the production process, enhanced process control monitoring systems to ensure that the company’s food safety program is generating the best results, an increase in the number and frequency of tests for Salmonella contamination, and the use of high pressure processing to further reduce risk of Salmonella contamination.
The most commonly used FDA-approved method to reduce cross contamination is to add chlorine or other disinfectants to processing water and/or to equipment surfaces. The principal factors that influence efficacy are disinfectant concentration, contact time, temperature and pH. Altering these four elements to achieve maximum efficacy and safety is useful, but is not always an effective solution and requires continual oversight. Chlorine related products are also high caustic and very corrosive making their continued use expensive and making the work environment for workers less friendly.
High-pressure processing and UV radiation are both proving to be strong additional tools for managing pathogens, and these methods have the advantage that they do not add any toxic chemicals to food. However, UV can cause undesirable discoloration of meats, and the elevated costs of both of these systems must be taken into consideration before they are adopted for in any given food processing context. If these new systems add too much to a company’s operating costs, and their competitors make no changes and continue to use the old standard disinfection methods, the competitor will likely have a cost advantage.
Researchers at University of Alberta’s Department of Agricultural, Food and Nutritional Science validated unprecedented effectiveness of BioLargo’s Advanced Oxidation System (AOS) Filter, an electrochemical water purification unit, in the disinfection of highly concentrated bacterial contaminants in sample water, including Listeria monocytogenes and Salmonella. Although these results are relevant to many industries, food safety was the primary concern of this recent work.
Professor Lynn McMullen evaluated the results and commented: “The AOS Filter technology could be highly efficient in solving food safety problems and may be applied to improve food quality with the potential to improve storage life. The potential applications of the BioLargo AOS Filter in the food industry could be endless — from primary commodities to finished food products.”
McMullen further explained: “At the foundation of the AOS Filter is its efficiency in generating a highly oxidative state. The data supports its potential to accomplish high-level disinfection that can be useful in multiple markets including food processing and agriculture production. Extremely high levels of performance [disinfection] were achieved during testing, and we are excited to expand the work with BioLargo (BLGO) to other applications targeting food safety concerns.”
The AOS Filter uses molecular iodine, which has long been known to be a powerful and safe disinfectant, and proven carbon filtration technology in order to achieve its disinfection results. Depending on the application, the iodine could be added to the water as a nutrient or, if preferred, it can be removed in the treatment process to eliminate the delivery of residual iodine.
In early experiments aimed at removing toxic organic contaminants from production water generated from oil sands recovery, the AOS Filter decontaminated the water better and faster than ever seen before — while using only one-twentieth of the energy required by the closest competing technology. While energy-consumption results from disinfection studies have not been publicized, we believe the costs will continue to remain very low as the technology progresses toward commercialization.
Water scarcity is a growing issue that is driving many industries to recycle and reuse water whenever possible. The food industry is no exception. BioLargo’s science team recognized that its AOS Filter has the potential to reduce water requirements of the food processing industry by recycling and reusing water purified by the AOS system. By comparison, current methods involve the addition of chemicals to a constant flow of freshwater and subsequent release of contaminated water back into the sanitation systems. The AOS Filter’s extremely powerful disinfection capabilites make it possible to recycle and reuse water economically.
UV radiation and high pressure processing are additional measures that can effectively reduce pathogens in food, but their costs may be prohibitive. BioLargo’s (BLGO) AOS Filter, on the other hand, appears to not only yield unprecedented disinfection results, but its overall costs might remain comparatively low especially if it eliminates the need for costly chlorine-based systems while it reduces corrosion and helps processers extend the useful life of filter membranes and equipment used in its systems. Food processors would likely be happy to be able to eliminate hazardous chemical systems, particularly if the new solution is more cost-effective.
BioLargo (BLGO) intends to expand its focus to include commercial opportunities for its AOS Filter in the agriculture and food processing industries. The filter should be a major advance in the disinfection of water used in chill wash tanks used in poultry processing, Clean-In-Process systems for poultry processing, and produce washing systems. We believe it will also be a cost-effective solution for the disinfection of potentially contaminated water fed to livestock and a multitude of other applications in food processing. BioLargo has already received commitments for number of financial grants to support its first commercial pilot organizing with a leading poultry processor in Edmonton, Canada. 



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