St. John's researcher develops new defense for superbugs

Huckfeldt, director of trauma and burn research at St. John’s Hospital in Springfield, has developed a new weapon, now called Theraworx, for hospitals to combat superbugs, including methicillin-resistant staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA.

According to the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, serious MRSA infections occur in approximately 94,000 people each year and are associated with about 19,000 deaths.

Roger J. Young, associate professor of biology at Drury University, said that over-prescribing of antibiotics has created resistant bacteria such as MRSA.

Waterless wonder

Theraworx, a waterless bathing system for intensive care and emergency room patients, has been used at St. John’s since Jan. 1.

According to Huckfeldt, Theraworx has killed everything he has tested it against, including MRSA and other superbugs prevalent in hospitals, as well as the herpes virus, fungus and the cold and flu viruses.

Theraworx uses a combination of grapefruit-seed extract and silver among other things to kill bacteria.

Even though metals can be harmful, “the amount of colloidal silver that is in the Theraworx product is so small that even if you drank it, it wouldn’t be an issue,” Huckfeldt said.

Unlike alcohol-based cleaners like Purell that can dry skin, Theraworx is gentle.

Huckfeldt says he’s been using it for more than three months as shaving cream. In addition, Theraworx is still 99 percent effective against bacteria after at least three hours. Alcohol-based cleaners do not kill bacteria after evaporating, which is generally within seconds.

The journey to Theraworx

Huckfeldt’s research on the base product for Theraworx started in the fourth quarter of 2006 when Steve Woody sent him a solution to test. Woody, president of G3 Medical in Asheville, N.C., a contract packaging and sterilization company for health care products, recounts that his friend, Randy Harod, had a methods patent on a skin-friendly bathing system. After a previous manufacturing partnership failed, Harod asked Woody to explore his product.

“Really, I was just trying to be nice to my friend,” Woody said.

Woody sent the sample to Huckfeldt, but he wasn’t expecting glowing results.

“He called me back the next day and said, ‘What is this? We haven’t seen anything that worked on MRSA like this.’”

In February 2007, Woody and Huckfeldt created the partnership Avadim LLC to further develop the product. In March, they purchased the patent rights and equipment from Harod. Since then, Huckfeldt has done extensive trials to finalize Theraworx, the basis for the hospital bathing system.

Woody and Huckfeldt have invested about $250,000 in Avadim, and because Theraworx production is largely automated, they expect to have only about five employees.

Exterminating a superbug

Huckfeldt has completed testing and will be releasing his research manuscript this month, while Woody works on the manufacturing angles.

Woody said he and Huckfeldt have agreed to focus on the health care market with Theraworx by producing the bathing system and foaming hand cleanser. They’re working with St. John’s Springfield hospital now, but will branch into the Sisters of Mercy Health System’s other facilities in the future. Beginning this month, St. John’s pharmacy and other select local pharmacies are offering Theraworx foaming hand cleanser.

“Our goal this time next year is to be at a run rate of about $1 million per year,” Woody said.

In three years, Woody hopes to reach $5 million in sales and $10 million within five years.

Ultimately, the partners are planning for a $20 million plan to grow into a $20 million company – and that’s just for the hospital bathing system and foaming hand cleanser.

Other applications

There are, however, possibilities beyond health care, Huckfeldt said, including a hunter’s bathing system that kills odor-causing sweat bacteria. The military also is trying the bathing system, with plans to introduce it in Iraq in the next four months. Another distributor wants to use Theraworx in products for racehorses, dogs and cattle.

Also, the partners say, there could be studies that lead to Theraworx products to treat acne, surgical scrubs and bandages.

Woody and Huckfeldt are using local and independent representatives to help them roll out Theraworx and working with distributors as opportunities arise. For instance, new sports towelettes and cleansers marketed as Bacrobial Ag are made with Theraworx.

“We have not expanded nationally yet,” Huckfeldt said. “We did all the work here in town as far as testing, and I’m kind of a home boy when it comes to getting stuff done initially. We’ve left it in our own region and in Steve’s region in North Carolina.”