Novel, BIO-inspired chloramine for infection eradication in chronic wounds

The National Institute of Diabetes and Digestive and Kidney Diseases awarded Halomine Inc. (doing business as Avantguard) $348,150 on September 15, 2025, under the Diabetes, Digestive, and Kidney Diseases Extramural Research program (CFDA 93.847) to develop and optimize Avantamine, a stabilized chloramine-based topical antiseptic for treatment of infected diabetic foot ulcers.

The project will examine efficacy of Avantamine against bacteria found in diabetic foot ulcers using a porcine tissue skin model to demonstrate a 3–4 log reduction in colony-forming units, and evaluate performance in an in vivo porcine model to show improved efficacy over existing treatments. Avantamine is formulated as an N-halamine-containing monomer combined with water-soluble monomers to provide broad-spectrum antimicrobial activity with residual efficacy, no documented resistance generation, reduced systemic toxicity risk due to molecular size preventing cellular uptake, and demonstrated biocompatibility with minimal skin irritation. The recipient is Halomine Inc., a for-profit entity based in Ithaca, New York.

Performance of work occurs in Ithaca, New York. The period of performance runs from September 15, 2025, through March 14, 2027. This is a Project Grant, a standard assistance type under the program supporting basic and clinical biomedical research that advances prevention, diagnosis, and treatment of diabetes and related conditions.

Abstract

Topical antiseptics are a key strategy in the treatment of infected diabetic foot ulcers (DFUS) to enhance the opportunity to rehabilitate and heal. DFUS can result in osteomyelitis of the foot and amputation of lower extremities. Halomine, doing business as avantguard, has developed avantamine, a stabilized chlorine containing chloramine, that creates a novel active with residual efficacy to compete in the antiseptic space, providing excellent broad-spectrum efficacy and no history of resistance generation. Chlorine is naturally biocompatible biocide compared to alternative chemistries because our bodies already utilize chlorine: neutrophils take chlorine from salt in bodily fluids to produce hypochlorous acid (HOCL) as an intermediary before ultimately generating taurine chloramine. Given the biocompatible nature and naturally skin-compatible PH compared to dakins solution, HOCL has recently become popular generally at 0.033% or less concentration for wound cleaning, but HOCL is limited by stability preventing general use at concentrations that would be most effective. Avantamine is a combination of an N-halamine containing monomer and other monomers that improve solubility in water. Key differentiators are: avantamine is broad spectrum; the molecules are too large for cellular uptake, reducing systemic toxicology risk; no resistance generation; the formulation has shown no skin irritability; chlorine is a quick and efficient antimicrobial. The proposal is designed to optimize the product against bacteria found in DFUS to decrease the persistence of the chronic wounds. To this we will: 1) examine efficacy against bacteria using a porcine tissue skin model to understand the performance with a milestone of a 3-4 log reduction in CFU; and 2) evaluate in an in vivo porcine model, which is the most similar to humans for skin behavior. The goal is to show improved efficacy over the currently most effective antiseptics.