TORONTO--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Dr. Jack Kolenda from Toronto and Lux Vitae Worldwide Are Pleased To Announce That The Steriwave Nasal Decolonization Treatment, Has Been Successfully Used By The Rock Band KISS Since September of 2021, To Prevent The Transmission And Spread of Covid 19 on Their World Tour and In Treatment of Covid 19 Positive Individuals In Toronto and Throughout Canada.
Doc McGhee, the legendary manager of KISS says, "It would be impossible, not improbable, but impossible, for KISS to continue on its world tour without the protection of the Steriwave treatment."
PRESS CONFERENCE
MONDAY, MARCH 6, 2023 10 AM, TORONTO, ONTARIO, CANADA
Location: Vantage Venues, Conference Room S1, The Sun Life Tower, 150 King Street West, 27th Floor, Toronto ( when you arrive at the 27th Floor, please see reception and advise them that you are attending the Lux Vitae press conference)
For Press Conference Details and to confirm attendance please call:
(416) 912-7130
HOSTED BY ROD BLACK
SPEAKERS:
DR. JACK KOLENDA, ENT SURGEON AND MEDICAL DIRECTOR OF VERSO SURGERY, OAKVILLE, ONTARIO, CANADA
DOC MCGHEE, THE MANAGER OF KISS
MICHAEL "PINBALL" CLEMONS
GARY LEEMAN, FORMER TORONTO MAPLE LEAFS PLAYER, MONTREAL CANADIENS PLAYER AND STANLEY CUP WINNER
DR. JOSEP ARGEMI, MD, PhD, INTERNAL MEDICINE DEPARTMENT, THE UNIVERSITY OF NAVARRA IN PAMPLONA, SPAIN
GARY SEGAL, PAST CHAIR OF THE VANCOUVER GENERAL HOSPITAL UBC FOUNDATION
At a time when many sports teams and entertainers were isolating themselves due to the threat of COVID-19, in August of 2021 the rock band, KISS, embarked on the largest rock and roll music tour since the beginning of the Coronavirus pandemic with a planned tour through 61 cities in 31 countries on four continents of the world. On their date in Philadelphia on August 26, 2021 Paul Stanley the co founder, lead vocalist and lead guitarist of KISS contracted the Covid 19 infection and KISS had to cancel 9 concert dates at the beginning of their world tour. The legendary manager of KISS, Doc McGhee, had heard about the Steriwave nasal decolonization treatment and after substantial due diligence, made the decision to deploy the Steriwave treatment on the KISS world tour.
Under the oversight of Dr. Jack Kolenda, an ENT surgeon and the medical director of the Verso Surgery Centre in Oakville, Ontario, Canada, and Lux Vitae Worldwide, Doc McGhee, manager of KISS, deployed the Steriwave nasal decolonization treatment to protect the KISS band, management and crew during its world tour, to prevent the transmission and spread of Covid 19. The treatment protocol required KISS and its management and crew to treat themselves with the Steriwave treatment for four minutes every show day, which is the exact same treatment protocol that has been used at Vancouver General Hospital, as the standard of care for more than 12 years, to treat almost all patients prior to surgery, to protect against the spread of MRSA and other hospital acquired infections.
The Steriwave COVID-19 protocol, perfected during the pandemic by Dr. Jack Kolenda, was used to treat 344 patients Covid 19 positive individuals with the Steriwave treatment, to reduce the systemic progression of symptoms of Covid 19 and to promote more rapid healing. Several of these patients, will be present at the press conference to report on their personal experiences with the Steriwave treatment.
Dr. Kolenda had been utilizing the Steriwave nasal decolonization treatment for the same purpose it has been used for at Vancouver General Hospital, to prevent his patients from contracting surgical site infections after surgery. At the onset of the Covid 19 pandemic, in the absence of any preventive measures for the prevention of transmission and spread of Covid 19 and the absence of any treatments for Covid 19 positive individuals, Dr. Kolenda reviewed existing literature and observed that patients with lower viral and bacterial loads in the nose were less likely to die or be hospitalized. With this information, Dr. Kolenda initiated the use of the Steriwave for treatment for his staff and patients to prevent the transmission and spread of Covid 19. The adoption of the Steriwave treatment in his surgery centre had a protective effect against Covid 19 infections among his staff, thereby encouraging Dr. Kolenda to expand the use of the Steriwave treatment to create a treatment protocol, The Kolenda Argemi protocol, which informed successful clinical trials at Sunnybrook Hospital (Toronto) and the Clinica University of Navarra, a world leading medical and research institute in Pamplona, Spain. Both of these trials subsequently demonstrated substantial reduction of viral load in the anterior nares (the front of the nose) and reduction of Covid 19 infectivity in Covid 19 positive patients.
The Steriwave nasal photodisinfection treatment is a non-antibiotic, light-based, antimicrobial therapy developed by Vancouver based Ondine Biomedical. Steriwave is able to quickly eradicate all variants of the Coronavirus and any infective bacterial or fungal co-factors in minutes. The Steriwave Covid 19 treatment protocol developed by Dr. Kolenda and Dr. Josep Maria Argemi, is a topical noninvasive, antiviral, upper respiratory tract treatment, that kills the coronavirus in the anterior nares, a primary source of infection. In 2021, the Steriwave treatment received international recognition by the International Conference of Prevention and Infection Control (ICPIC), Geneva as an Innovation Excellence Award winner for the use of the Steriwave treatment, in the treatment of Covid 19 positive individuals.
Dr. Kolenda was the first doctor in the world to provide the Steriwave treatment to Covid 19 positive patients, some of whom were immunocompromised, and highly symptomatic, observing rapid resolution of Covid 19 symptoms in all of the individuals treated with the Steriwave treatment. Highly importantly, none of the Covid 19 positive patients treated with the Steriwave treatment were admitted to hospital. There was recent confirmation of the efficacy of the Steriwave, Kolenda Argemi treatment protocol in a randomized control trial study of COVID-19 patients which was carried out by the Clinica Universidad de Navarra in Pamplona, Spain and published in Frontiers in Cellular and Infection Microbiology (https://www.frontiersin.org/articles/10.3389/fcimb.2023.1110467/full). The University of Navarra randomized control trial demonstrated that the Steriwave treatment was able to substantially reduce viral load in the anterior nares (front of the nose), substantially reducing Covid 19 infectivity as well as rapidly resolving COVID symptoms.
Lead author, co-principal investigator, and Associate Professor at the Department of Occupational Medicine at the University of Navarra, Dr Alejandro Fernandez-Montero commented, "This randomized, controlled study shows that photodisinfection could be an effective and safe novel treatment for SARS-CoV-2 carriers, significantly decreasing the infectivity period. Most exciting is the demonstration of an adaptive immune response in treated patients. This is the basis of vaccination, and it means that nasal decolonization might provide an alternative, low-cost, widely accessible, respiratory virus treatment during future pandemics. The treatment specifically helped to maintain, over time, the cell-mediated immunity, which is remarkable as this is the immune protection needed against severe disease."
Dr. José Luis Del Pozo, Head of Infectious Diseases Division and Clinical Microbiology at the Clínica Universidad de Navarra, Co-Principal Investigator, and Study Author, commented "This study expanded our understanding of SARS-CoV-2 pathogenesis, because interestingly, we showed that treatment with aPDT applied only to the nasal passages also reduced SARS-CoV-2 colonization of the nasopharyngeal region. This implies that we might be able to slow viral spread from the upper to the lower respiratory tract, reducing the extent of illness and thereby reducing pressure on hospital facilities such as the ICU. It also means that we might be able to slow or inhibit viral spread from person to person during an outbreak, in both clinical and non-clinical settings, even when those patients have been previously vaccinated."
A significant finding of the randomized control trial is that Steriwave photodisinfection substantially prolonged patient immunity against Covid 19 at 20 weeks after treatment. This finding suggests that the Steriwave treatment is one of the most important innovations in the fight against coronaviruses and other respiratory pathogens. The Steriwave treatment has been proven to be safe and effective for both prevention of the transmission and spread of Covid 19 and treatment of COVID-19 positive patients and is a highly effective solution to protect front line workers and health professionals as part of PPE.
In a recent press release commenting on the University of Navarra, Steriwave randomized control trial results, Ondine Biomedical founder and CEO, Carolyn Cross, stated " The Clínica Universidad de Navarra study sheds new light on the Steriwave treatment of respiratory viruses, where antibiotics are entirely ineffective and new anti-viral therapies are limited. As new Covid 19 variants rapidly emerge across the globe, we look forward to being able to play our part in helping our communities, hospitals, clinics, and emergency workers deal with these new threats. Steriwave has been successfully used in Canadian hospital surgical suites for more than ten years, significantly reducing post-surgical infection rates, length of stay and hospital readmission rates. Eliminating a broad spectrum of pathogens from the nose prior to surgery has proven to be a major factor in reducing hospital-acquired infections in these hospitals. More than 100,000 patients have already benefited from this painless, rapid approach to infection control – all without the fear of resistance formation and the possibility of antibiotic adverse effects."
The Steriwave nasal photodisinfection decolonization treatment was developed and is produced by Ondine Biomedical, a Vancouver-based life sciences company (www.ondinebio.com), which trades on the London AIM Stock Exchange under the trading symbol (OBI). Ondine Biomedical is the world leader in developing and creating antimicrobial photodisinfection treatments and technologies with 7 products in its pipeline.
The Steriwave antimicrobial photodynamic therapy treatment and technology eradicate and mitigate, what the WHO, CDC and the Bill and Melinda Gates Foundation identify as one of the greatest threats to humanity in the next decade; antibiotic resistant infection and antimicrobial resistance (AMR).
The Steriwave treatment is approved in Canada, The European Union, The United Kingdom, Ireland, Australia and Mexico.
The Steriwave treatment is not for sale or distribution in the United States.