An effective way of combatting the threat of drug-resistant super bugs could be anti-microbial coatings (AMCs) using highly effective new technologies, such as formulations based on nano particles.

AMCs could provide opportunities for SMEs and start-ups to make inroads into a fast growing market both in Europe and globally. Currently the big players in the market are multinationals like AkzoNobel, Axalta, PPG Industries and Sherwin-Williams.

Both at the European Union and national levels there has been a big increase in public-sector investment in R&D into antimicrobial coatings from which new technologies are emerging for commercialization by smaller companies.

The AMC market is at present expanding at a double digit rate annually. It is expected that with the introduction of innovative, well tested coatings focused on the healthcare sector, where there is the most urgent need for effective AMCs in Europe, the growth rate is likely to be even more rapid.

Experts have been warning that the dangers of the uncontrolled spread of super bugs like methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus will result in healthcare associated infection (HCAI) by antibiotics-resistant bacteria becoming a bigger killer than cancer.

Over four million people in Europe have been estimated by the European Centre for Disease prevention and Control (ECDC) to be acquiring an HCAI annually with 37,000 dying directly from the infections, which also contribute to another 110,000 deaths each year The number of healthcare associated infections is more than double the rate recorded in the U.S.

AMCs now operate in three ways. They prevent bacteria from adhering to solid surfaces, they eliminate the bacteria when they come into contact with surfaces or they kill them through the release of biocidal chemicals or other substances.

The predominant active ingredient in AMCs commercialized in recent years has been nano particles of silver, followed by zinc oxide, zirconium and titanium dioxide.

Outside of healthcare, the biggest AMC sectors in Europe, which is the world’s biggest market for the coatings, are food processing, catering, agriculture, transportation and buildings.

However, besides destroying bacteria, antimicrobial coatings can also create anti-microbial resistance in bacteria and other micro-organisms. The new technologies, unlike with their predecessors and also some long-established antimicrobials still on the market, have to show that they can be effective killers of bacteria without at the same time causing resistances. Recent research has indicated that even silver has the potential to cause resistance.

Underlining the importance of broadly-based, multidisciplinary R&D in antimicrobial coatings is the work of the EU-funded Antimicrobial Coatings Innovations (AMiCI) consortium, a network of over 60 universities, research institutes and companies from 29 European countries. It is thought to be the biggest ever network of stakeholders involved in development, regulation, and use of novel AMCs for the prevention of HCAI.

The purpose of the four-year project due to end in 2020 is to provide more detailed knowledge about the effectiveness of AMCs in preventing the spread of infections in hospital and other healthcare facilities. Also it aims to find out much more about how AMCs promote resistance.

One key objective is to provide a basis for the creation of a standard performance assessment of AMCs, both inside the laboratory and outside for ‘real world’ testing.

AMiCI is at present running one-year tests on an AMC, based on TiO2 with a small amount of silver, in patients’ rooms or what it calls “living laboratories” in three different hospital locations. They are the sort of trials which are not usually conducted with AMCs in a hospital settings.

“In contrast to the optimal conditions in a conventional lab, hospital surroundings are far more complex so that they give a much better idea of how AMCs work and what kind of resistance they might create,” explained Francy Crijns, senior lecturer at Zuyd University’s Antimicrobial Action and Detection Organisation, Netherlands, and AMiCI’s project manager.

“You would have thought that hospitals would have data about micro-organisms in their environment but they don’t have this information,” she continued. “We’ll have to carry out a number of multi-center trials. The extent of resistance could take some time to find out. The lack of internationally accepted protocols on how to perform tests is a problem as well.”

AMiCI’s objective is to create a system of Safety by Design (SbD) which sets parameters of efficacy and safety for developers of AMCs, particularly for the control of toxicity of nanoparticles. It is now known, for example, that the concentration of nanoparticles in cells, the type of surface coating of the particles, the extent of doping and the ratio of width to length of particles can influence their cell toxicity.

SbD should help SMEs avoid some of the main pitfalls in the development and commercialization of new AMCs. One of these are regulatory hurdles like the EU’s 2012 Biocidal Products Regulation (BPR) under which a large proportion of AMCs and their active ingredients have to be approved before they can be marketed in Europe.

Kastus Technologies, Dublin, Ireland, has just started commercializing a photocatalytic AMC which has been over ten years in development.

The coating comprises an active ingredient doped with TiO2, fluorine and copper so that it can be activated by artificial light and can continue to eliminate bacteria in darkness. It is also tolerant of high temperatures so that it can be embedded in ceramics and glass during their manufacture.

“I recognized its potential early on in its development particularly since it could kill a wide range of bacteria and fungi and was suitable for industrial scale production,” said John Browne, chief executive and founder of Kastus, which was set up to exploit the technology. The company has been helping to fund the product’s development while it is itself receiving money from the Irish government’s Enterprise Ireland, an agency which assists start-ups.


Late last year it signed it first major deal under which it sold the UK rights to the AMC to British Ceramic Tile (BCT), the country’s largest manufacturer of ceramic and glass tiles. “We are talking to a number of other multinationals, including smart phone manufacturers,” Browne added.

The Kastus AMC has reached the market after taking only 2-3 years to gain BPR registration. This showed that a well researched and tested AMC can be officially approved more quickly than AMCs with conventional technologies.