"Honey of a treatment"

"Amid growing concern over drug-resistant superbugs and nonhealing wounds that endanger diabetes patients, nature's original antibiotic -- honey -- is making a comeback.

"More than 4,000 years after Egyptians began applying honey to wounds, Derma Sciences Inc., a West Windsor company that makes medicated and other advanced wound care products, began selling the first honey-based dressing this fall after it was approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration.

"Called Medihoney, it is made from a highly absorbent seaweed-based material, saturated with manuka honey, a particularly potent type that experts say kills germs and speeds healing.

"Also called Leptospermum honey, manuka honey comes from hives of bees that collect nectar from manuka and jelly bushes in Australia and New Zealand.

"Derma Sciences now sells two Medihoney dressings to hospitals, clinics and doctors in North and South America under a deal with supplier Comvita LP of New Zealand.

"Derma Sciences hopes to have its dressings in U.S. drug stores in the next six months, followed by adhesive strips.

"Comvita, which controls about 75 percent of the world's manuka honey supply, sells similar products under its own name in Australia, New Zealand and Europe, where such products have been popular for over a decade.

" 'The reason that Medihoney is so exciting is that antibiotics are becoming ineffective at fighting pathogens,' said Derma Sciences CEO Ed Quilty."

Article continues at Honey of a Treatment