Ondine Biomedical Inc on Thursday said new data shows that its photodisinfection technology has ‘dramatically’ reduced Covid-19 rates at a Canadian meat processing plant.

The Vancouver-based life sciences company specialising in photodisinfection therapies said 1,500 workers at the plant were given weekly nasal photodisinfection, resulting in only 3 positive PCR tests out of more than 21,000 tests administered during a seven-month period.

The firm said the expected provincial rate was 1,344 positive tests.

The study saw no serious side effects recorded.

Ondine Biomedical said meat processing plants ‘experienced a disproportionately greater incidence of COVID-19 than surrounding communities, despite implementing safety precautions.’

The use of photodisinfection allowed the plant to continue operating without disruption or shutdown. The data also showed that Covid-19 rates were lowered in populations surrounding the plant, possibly due to the reduced transmission y the workforce.

Chief Executive Carolyn Cross said: ‘Nasal photodisinfection has been used in hospitals across Canada for the past ten years, significantly reducing surgical site infections and readmission rates. This independent study extends experience with the technology to enterprise facilities and confirms the importance of nasal decolonisation to infection control of essential workers during a pandemic.

‘Outcomes of this study mirrored results found by Sunnybrook Health Sciences Centre (University Hospital Network, Toronto), as well as the University of Navarra (Pamplona, Spain) where substantial reduction of SARS-CoV-2 infectivity was found in treated patients.’

Ondine shares rose 3.1% to 14.95 pence each in London on Thursday morning.

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