For MHCombiotic CEO and co-founder Ali Pormohammad, the journey from university research to real-world clinical feedback has been years in the making.
The Calgary-based life sciences company spun out of research at the University of Calgary and received two years of support from Innovate Calgary’s Life Sciences Innovation Hub through the Life Sciences Fellowship program. Today, MHCombiotic is developing wound care technology designed to support cleaner, more balanced wound environments.
Now, after early clinical use with patients experiencing difficult-to-heal wounds, MHCombiotic has reached an important milestone: promising feedback for their Combiotic™ Antimicrobial Wound Care System from both clinicians and patients.
“After receiving our initial approvals to test the product in a clinical setting, we were very excited to start our initial clinical feedback,” said Pormohammad. “To be honest, we were not expecting these outstanding results.”
The initial cases involved patients dealing with chronic, non-healing wounds — some for weeks, months, and in one case, years. According to Pormohammad, many of the patients had already tried multiple products and approaches before being introduced to MHCombiotic’s wound care technology.
“They tried most products that are available right now in the market. Nothing worked,” he said. “They switched to our treatment and then it worked perfectly. So we are getting really good feedback by both patients and doctors who are using the product.”
That feedback is especially meaningful in chronic wound care, where patients often become deeply familiar with how their wounds respond over time. Many have lived through repeated dressing changes, treatments, infections, and setbacks. When those patients report that a product feels good, that the wound looks better, or that dressing changes are easier, that feedback carries weight.
For Dr. John Nesbitt, a Calgary physician with more than 30 years of experience in wound care, that patient response has been an important part of the early clinical experience.
Nesbitt runs a multidisciplinary wound care clinic and has worked with a number of companies over the years, including as a principal investigator. When Pormohammad approached him about trialling MHCombiotic’s technology, Nesbitt said the science behind the product caught his attention.
“The science behind his product is very impressive,” said Nesbitt. “And so I was very interested to try it.”
Nesbitt selected patients with refractory wounds — wounds that had been difficult to heal — and began following their progress over several months. He said MHCombiotic’s approach, which includes Combiotic™ Antimicrobial Wound Care System and a wash designed to target biofilm in chronic wounds, stood out because of the role biofilm and bacterial burden can play in preventing wounds from healing.
“One of the major problems with chronic wounds is colonization,” said Nesbitt. “Once the bioburden within the wound gets to a certain point, then the lesion stops healing.”
In particular, Nesbitt noted promising results in patients colonized with MRSA, or methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, an infection that can be extremely difficult to manage in chronic wound care.
“We’ve seen a decrease with the use of the wash,” said Nesbitt. “And the really great thing about it is that there’s nothing on the market that does the same thing.”
For MHCombiotic, the early response represents more than encouraging feedback. It is an important step in the long process of moving research from the lab into clinical settings.
Pormohammad said the company had already seen strong results through earlier in vitro, small animal, and large animal testing. But seeing similar feedback in a clinical setting has been especially exciting for the team.
“Most cases fail from in vitro to in vivo, in vivo to clinic,” he said. “We are exactly seeing similar results that we have seen in vitro, in vivo, and clinics all the way. So that’s why we are very excited about this.”
The milestone also reflects the company’s growth within Calgary’s innovation ecosystem. Pormohammad said the project began as his postdoctoral work at the University of Calgary before becoming the foundation for MHCombiotic. Support from Innovate Calgary and the Life Sciences Innovation Hub helped the company access lab space, advisors, and programming as it moved from basic science toward clinical validation.
“This project was my postdoc project at University of Calgary,” said Pormohammad. “We discovered this novel formulation and compounds, and Innovate Calgary Life Sciences Hub hosted us for two years, provided us with lab space and good advisors.”
With early clinical feedback now informing the company’s next steps, MHCombiotic is preparing for more formal studies, including a randomized controlled trial and multi-centre research.
For Pormohammad, that next phase is about understanding where the technology can have the greatest impact.
“We have to understand our technology is best for what kind of patient, and it’s not good for what kind of patient,” he said. “That’s a very exciting moment in the company.”
As MHCombiotic continues to advance Combiotic™ Antimicrobial Wound Care System and its broader wound care technology, the company is building on a milestone that brings its research closer to the patients it was designed to help.
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