For decades, we’ve known that antimicrobial peptides are potent antimicrobials. Peptides carry a positive electrostatic charge, which naturally attracts the negative charge bacteria carry. Once attached, the knife-like structure of peptides puncture bacterial membranes, killing the cells.  

What hasn’t been known—until now—is how to protect vulnerable parts of the peptide from natural enzymes in the human body. In nature, peptides are fragile molecules. Enzymes can destroy them in seconds. To be effective antimicrobials, peptides need protection.  

To be antimicrobials, peptides need protection  

Amferia solves that problem with an innovative, patented hydrogel platform that binds the peptides in a solid gel, and protecting them.

Amferia’s hydrogel stabilizes and protects the peptides in biological environments. Amferia harnesses peptides in a safe, stable, non-toxic and clinically applicable form, allowing them to be antimicrobial without harming anything else in the body.

Amferia’s proprietary technology consists of amphiphilic antimicrobial polymers that target, rapidly reduce braod spectrum of microbes on the dressing by 99.99% upon contact. 

The material is entirely non-toxic to the human and animal body. 

Amferia’s approach

• 1.  Antimicrobial peptide binds and physically disrupts bacteria and fungi
• 2. Highly potent and targets only pathogenic microbes
• 3. Completely harmless to human and animal cells
• 4. Does not release any antimicrobials from the hydrogel

Derived from the mammalian immune system, antimicrobial peptides are powerful molecules that can rapidly and selectively kill bacteria and fungi.

Until today, antimicrobial peptides have had poor stability

These peptides have been present in mammals for millions of years and have a unique way of inhibiting microbial growth by rapidly disrupting the bacteria’s cell membrane through something called electrostatic and amphiphilic interaction. You can think of peptides as a highly specialised soap-like molecule designed to kill bacterial cells by ripping off their skin. 

Antimicrobial peptides carry a net-positive charge and a molecular structure that includes hydrophobic and hydrophilic characteristics. These two factors allow peptides to attract bacterial cells—which carry a net-negative charge and are also amphiphilic—and bind to them, before puncturing their membrane and killing the cell.

Until today, antimicrobial peptides have had poor stability. In the past, their fragility has made antimicrobial peptides challenging for clinical applications. High doses of antimicrobial peptides were needed, which increased costs and prolonged the time-to-market.

As a result, past efforts to develop market-ready products featuring this valuable antimicrobial technology have faced substantial hurdles.

Amferia has solved this problem by implementing a scientifically robust approach that covalently and permanently bind antimicrobial peptides to the surface of a soft, ordered and amphiphilic hydrogel pad.

These permanent bonds protect the vulnerable portion of the peptide molecule and fix them in place, while leaving their antimicrobial mechanism free to inhibit bacterial growth. They also ensure no peptides leak into the wound. Antimicrobial peptides fixed to an underlying hydrogel pad allowed Amferia to develop a safe, efficient and cost-effective design for a wound dressing.  

Amferia has solved this problem by permanently binding the peptides to an amphiphilic hydrogel

This design provides the needed balance between stability and activity.

The end-product is a singular material that does not leach or release any peptides or substances into the body, but rather acts locally as a medical device.

Previous antimicrobial peptide technologies utilize peptides in their pristine form, which renders them inactive in a few minutes. Amferia’s innovation enables the bound peptides to remain stable and active for up to five days. Current testing indicates the product we’re developing for wound care will be shelf-stable for up to eighteen months.

Read about our first product using the technology >

Amferia’s technology is born out of years of research performed at Chalmers University of Technology. The concept behind Amferia’s antibacterial properties are enabled by a new material known as amphiphilic antimicrobial hydrogel.

An amphiphilic substance is one that displays both hydrophilic and hydrophobic characteristics. Comprised of about 70% water, the hydrogel is soft and flexible, making it useful for numerous medical applications.

Amferia’s technology is based on a new material known as amphiphilic antimicrobial hydrogels

The surface of amphiphilic hydrogel consists of antimicrobial peptides that are covalently and permanently bound to the hydrogels amphiphilic structure—forming a single material. The material interacts with bacterial cells and, disrupts the bacterial cell wall rapidly, effectively killing the bacteria.

Testing proves that the amphiphilic antimicrobial hydrogel does not release any substances into the wound or the environment. This material can potentially be configured into antimicrobial products ranging from wound care dressings to antiseptic sprays to mechanically durable devices such as catheters and implants.  

To date, analysis confirms that Amferia amphiphilic hydrogel reduces microbial growth by 99.99% which includes gram-negative and gram-positive bacteria, and fungi.

It has been proven to be non-toxic to the body as per ISO 10993 biocompatibility evaluations, namely acute toxicity, cytotoxicity, skin sensitisation & irritation, implantation and material mediated pyrogenicity. 

Amferia's first product for human wound care has been developed for easy applicability and functionality. More products and broader applications are in the pipeline.

Read about possible applications of Amferia's innovation >

The antimicrobial efficacy of Amferia’s technology platform and its safety in lab and animal studies have been verified in numerous pre-clinical studies published in peer-reviewed scientific journals.

The studies describe evidence of Amferia’s technology through fluorescence microscopy against multiple strains of bacteria, including resistant bacteria. An animal infection study demonstrates the real-time effectiveness of Amferia hydrogel in eradicating bacteria from a wound. 

In 2022, Amferia’s technology platform was verified in a new form for potential spray-based applications. The base technology was reformulated as small particles that can be sprayed for applications in deep wounds. The results demonstrated excellent reduction of the broad bacterial bio burden including resistant bacteria up to 4 log reduction (or 99.99%) bacterial colonies. This study and others are now published in peer-reviewed scientific journals as listed below. 

Pre-clinical studies in peer-reviewed scientific journals

• — Anti-biofilm coatings to medical implants, Atefyekta et. al. published in Acta Biomaterialia — 2019
• ‍— Nanostructured elastomeric materials for biomaterial applications, Rajasekharan et. al. published in ACS Nano — 2020‍
• ‍— Antimicrobial Peptide-Functionalized Mesoporous Hydrogels, Atefyekta, Blomstrand et. al. published in ACS Biomaterials Science and Engineering — 2021‍
• — Cross-Linked Lyotropic Liquid Crystal Particles Functionalized with Antimicrobial Peptides, Blomstrand et. al. published in International Journal of Pharmaceutics — 2022
• — Multifunctional Surface Modification of PDMS for Antibacterial Contact Killing and Drug-Delivery of Polar, Nonpolar and Amphiphilic Drugs, Stepulane et. al. published in ACS Applied Biomaterials — 2022
• — Lyotropic liquid crystal elastomers for drug delivery, Stepulane et. al. published in Colloids and Surfaces B: Biointerfaces—2023
• — Antibacterial and Hemolytic Activity of Antimicrobial Hydrogels Utilizing Immobilized Antimicrobial Peptides, Blomstrand et. al. published in International Journal of Molecular Sciences—2024
• — Antibacterial efficacy of antimicrobial peptide-functionalized hydrogel particles combined with vancomycin and oxacillin antibiotics, Stepulane et. al. published in
  International Journal of Pharmaceutics — 2024