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May 2012 Perioperative pharmacology February 2011 Entering continued from page 41 NovaBay is currently in Phase IIb/III clinical trials with the aganocide compounds. So far, the safety profile has been excellent and the company knows of no contraindications to its use. "There's nothing we've seen in the first two studies that would be a warning not to develop it," said Dr. Stroman. "Right now we're treating [infections] very aggressively with- out any safety warning flags." Depending on the tissue in question, aganocides can be up to 400-600 times gentler than, for ex- ample, povidone iodine and don't sting upon application. Further- more, unlike antibiotics, physicians don't need to do a culture or test for sensitivities. The compound is extremely fast, killing bacteria in minutes, even in small doses. Right now, aganocides can only be used for surfaces and cavities. The hope is to develop a way to use them elsewhere in the body, but for now they are limited in their appli- cation. "This drug is not going to solve all of our problems," said Dr. Najafi. "I wish it could. But it is going to make a dent in the problems of drug-resistant antibiotics." For more information about NovaBay and the aganocide com- pounds, visit novabaypharma.com. EW Editors' note: Drs. Najafi, Stroman, and Wilmarth are affiliated with NovaBay Pharmaceuticals. Contact information Najafi: rnajafi@novabaypharma.com Stroman: dstroman@novabaypharma.com Wilmarth: sswilmarth@gmail.com EW FEATURE 43 Source: Colin Anderson/Getty Images Poll Size: 480 EyeWorld Monthly Pulse EyeWorld Monthly Pulse is a reader survey on trends and patterns for the practicing ophthalmologist. Each month we send a 4-6 question online survey covering different topics so our readers can see how they compare to our survey. If you would like to join the current 1,000+ physicians who take a minute a month to share their views, please send us an email and we will add your name. Email ksalerni@eyeworld.org and put EW Pulse in the subject line; that's all it takes. Copyright EyeWorld 2012