Bwell Cosmetic
Enhanced-Delivery Tetracycline for Cosmetic and Dermatological Conditions By:
Dr. Christopher Otiko, ViaDerma, Inc.
Summary
Bwell™ is an over-the-counter (OTC) topical ointment with a patent pending dual carrier delivery system that greatly enhances product penetration – the ViaDerma Transdermal Carrier (VTC) system. VTC permits rapid penetration of active ingredients through the skin and into cells, making this not only one strongest antibiotics in the world, but also giving it intense healing properties unlike anything else available on the market today. VTC enables tetracycline to overcome the bacteria’s efflux pumps, and rather influx the antibiotic – this means that Bwell has both a chemical and physical kill mechanism, which we call Advanced Biological Coverage (ABC).
Introduction
Bwell was developed by a team of scientists and physicians with a combined experience of 60 years in Biochemistry, Molecular Biology, and Wound Care. Our novel approach to overcome drug resistance of antibiotics is designed to sustain the effectiveness of Bwell for many years. This gives Bwell a longer useful lifetime and therefore more commercial value. In recent years, the dearth of new antibiotics has been largely due to the uncertain new-drug commercial lifetime which is diminished when bacteria develop immunity to that drug.
“Gram Positive” vs “Gram Negative” Bacteria
The terms Gram-positive and Gram-negative are used to quickly classify bacterial into two broad categories according to their different types of cell walls. It refers to their results in the Gram stain test – gram positive bacteria give a positive result in the Gram stain test, because they take up the crystal violet stain and then appear to be purple colored when seen through a microscope; gram negative bacteria appear purple or pink because they take up the counterstain in this test.
All Gram-positive bacteria are bound by a single-unit lipid membrane, and, in general, they contain a thick layer (20–80 nm) of peptidoglycan responsible for retaining the Gram stain. In contrast to Gram-positive bacteria, all archetypical Gram-negative bacteria are bounded by a cytoplasmic membrane and an outer cell membrane; they contain only a thin layer of peptidoglycan (2–3 nm) between these membranes. The presence of inner and outer cell membranes defines a new compartment in these cells: the periplasmic space or the periplasmic compartment.
Despite their thicker peptidoglycan layer, Gram-positive bacteria are more receptive to antibiotics than Gram-negative, due to the absence of the outer membrane.
Antibiotic Resistance
It is well known that bacteria evolve to develop resistance to the effects of antibiotics. There are many types of antibiotics. Chiefly, they have two types of mechanism of action: antibiotics either function as bacteriostatic or as bactericidal. As bacteriostatic they stop the bacterium from multiplying further by interfering with their DNA, but they do not kill the bacteria. As bactericidal, they kill the bacteria (eg, Penicillin is a bactericidal antibiotic).
A plasmid is a small, circular, double-stranded DNA molecule that is distinct from a cell's chromosomal DNA. Plasmids naturally exist in bacterial cells, and they also occur in some eukaryotes. Often, the genes carried in plasmids provide bacteria with genetic advantages, such as antibiotic resistance.
It is relatively easy for bacteria to change their response to a chemical threat, but it takes numerous generations for bacteria to grow a new kind of cell wall structure to respond to a physical threat. This means that antibiotic products that utilize a physical mechanism of action show great potential for treating bacteria that develop resistance to standard antibiotics.
Active efflux is a mechanism responsible for extrusion of toxic substances and antibiotics outside the cell. This mechanism is important in medicine as it can contribute to bacterial antibiotic resistance - pathogens use an energy dependent mechanism (active transport) to pump antibiotics outside of their cell walls before the antibiotic is able to have an effect (kill the pathogen), rendering the antibiotic ineffective. Some efflux systems are drug-specific, whereas others may accommodate multiple drugs, and thus contribute to bacterial multidrug resistance (MDR). Efflux may be the most important evolutionary mechanism used by bacteria to develop resistance to antibiotics. Some of these efflux pumps exhibit an extremely wide specificity covering practically all antibiotics. It is disturbing to the medical community that the antibacterial agents of the most advanced type, which are unaffected by common resistance mechanisms, are the compounds whose use appears to select for multidrug-resistant mutants that overproduce these efflux pumps of wide specificity.
Tetracycline
Tetracycline resistance is normally due to the acquisition of new genes often associated with either a mobile plasmid or transposon. Specific tetracycline resistance genes have been identified in 32 Gram-negative and 22 Gram-positive genera.
As an antibiotic, tetracycline uses a chemical mechanism of action. Tetracycline antibiotics are protein synthesis inhibitors, inhibiting the binding of aminoacyl-tRNA to the mRNA-ribosome complex. They do so mainly by binding to the 30S ribosomal subunit in the mRNA translation complex.5 As an anti-inflammatory, tetracycline suppresses the up-regulation of matrix metalloproteinases and cathelicidins, which are hallmarks of chronic inflammation. This has led to extensive research on chemically-modified tetracyclines or CMTs (like incyclinide) for the treatment of rosacea, acne, and various types of neoplasms.
Bwell and How it Works
Our tetracycline technology provides enhanced capabilities against antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogens.
Advanced Biological Coverage (ABC) technology
Single chemicals offer limited enhancements of skin permeability. Mixtures of chemicals can overcome this limitation owing to their synergistic interactions. Bwell utilizes an enhanced transdermal drug delivery system to transport key ingredient molecules quickly and effectively through the skin and into cells. It is unique in that it utilizes both a physical and a chemical mechanism of kill to fight pathogens – we call this Advanced Biological Coverage (ABC). All known antibiotics (other than ours) primarily use only a chemical mechanism of kill. To overcome bacteria’s tendency to evolve and become resistant to an antibiotic, Bwell additionally incorporates a physical kill mechanism. This is the reason why Vitastem’s tetracycline technology provides enhanced capabilities against antibiotic-resistant strains of pathogens.
ViaDerma Transdermal Carrier (VTC)
Vitastem’s transdermal penetration system (VTC), is a proprietary patent-pending method of delivering key ingredients. Individually, each of the FDA approved inactive ingredients are single chemicals that offer limited enhancements to skin permeability. However, when these ingredients are mixed at specific concentrations, with specific temperature and time, the cocktail of chemicals act synergistically to form an enhanced transdermal carrier system with superior product penetration. Our patent pending transdermal formulation then carries the active ingredient, tetracycline, deep into the tissue and across cell walls. This means that tetracycline penetrates in much higher concentrations and with greater effectiveness than other products. Whereas conventional topical antibiotics require more time (usually prescribed for 5 to 7 days for best results), Bwell usually produces desirable results in 24 hours (or less). VTC increases the mass transfer of tetracycline across cell membranes, penetrating any cell wall, and enabling it to get where most products can’t.
Topical Vs Oral Antibiotics
Bwell topical antibiotic has been shown to kill all harmful Gram positive and Gram negative bacteria that have been available for testing. We believe this is the world’s strongest broad-spectrum topical antibiotic.
Liquid solutions are typically thought of as only being able to provide a limited dose, because they are applied as a thin topical application. However, a study showed that after just 60 seconds, 58% of the Bwell had penetrated the skin as deep as 0.125cm, with only 42% of the initial dose left on the surface of the skin. After 24 hours, there was 92% product penetration as deep as 0.6cm.
Conditions and Case Studies
Acne
In 2015, acne was estimated to affect 633 million people globally, making it the 8th most common disease worldwide. Acne, also known as acne vulgaris, is a long-term skin disease that occurs when hair follicles are clogged with dead skin cells and oil from the skin. It is characterized by blackheads or whiteheads, pimples, oily skin, and possible scarring.8 It primarily affects areas of the skin with a relatively high number of oil glands, including the face, upper part of the chest, and back.
Genetics is thought to be the primary cause of acne in 80% of cases. A frequent factor is excessive growth of the bacterium Propionibacterium acnes, which is normally present on the skin.Treatments applied directly to the affected skin, such as azelaic acid, benzoyl peroxide, and salicylic acid, are
commonly used. Antibiotics and retinoids are available in formulations that are applied to the skin and taken by mouth for the treatment of acne. However, resistance to antibiotics may develop as a result of antibiotic therapy.Several types of birth control pills help against acne in women. Isotretinoin pills are usually reserved for severe acne due to greater potential side effects. Early and aggressive treatment of acne is advocated by some in the medical community to decrease the overall long-term impact to individuals.