Published in Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy, the peer-reviewed study is the first to directly compare AvantGuard’s new compound AVA-003 against chlorhexidine for decolonizing skin of the WHO critical-priority pathogen.

AvantGuard, Inc., a biotechnology company developing next-generation antimicrobial technologies inspired by the human immune system, today announced a peer-reviewed study demonstrating that its AVA-003 compound significantly outperformed chlorhexidine gluconate (CHG), the current standard-of-care agent for decolonizing skin of Candida auris (recently reclassified as Candidozyma auris), in a validated mouse model.

Conducted independently at Case Western Reserve University's Department of Dermatology and published in the American Society for Microbiology's flagship journal, the study is the first to put AVA-003 head-to-head against CHG. By addressing a critical gap in infection prevention, this research targets a major challenge: the lack of an established protocol to eliminate C. auris from human skin. C. auris is recognized by the World Health Organization as a critical priority fungal pathogen, and the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention lists it as the first fungal threat categorized as urgent due to antimicrobial resistance.

"There's currently no proven way to clear Candida auris from a patient's skin, and that gap has real consequences for infection control in hospitals and long-term care facilities. This study is the first independent, peer-reviewed evidence that AVA-003 can outperform the agent most facilities think to use. It's an important validation as we continue advancing this technology toward clinical use."
— Ted Eveleth, CEO, AvantGuard, Inc.

In the study, a 1.2% formulation of AVA-003 reduced C. auris burden on dorsal skin roughly 500-fold more than 2% CHG after a 3-day course, and was fungicidal against all four major C. auris clades in companion laboratory testing. No skin irritation was observed in the 3-day course.

AVA-003 is the building block of AvantGuard's proprietary Avantamine™ platform, a stabilized antimicrobial chemistry inspired by the human immune system.

The full study is available at https://journals.asm.org/doi/10.1128/aac.00713-26.

ABOUT AVANTGUARD:

AvantGuard is a venture-backed, Cornell University spin-off and IndieBio alum developing the first line of defense against pathogens for a world where antibiotics are failing. Its patented Avantamine™ platform improves upon the biocompatible chemistry the human immune system naturally deploys, namely hypochlorous acid, to deliver broad-spectrum, long-lasting protection against bacteria, fungi, and viruses — without the risk of resistance. AvantGuard’s AVA-003 is essentially a delivery mechanism for hypochlorous acid at high concentrations and addresses indications from ringworm to MRSA, from chronic wounds to drug-resistant infections, across skin, mucosa, wounds, and surfaces. Supported by more than $11 million in NIH, NSF, and federal grant funding, the company's platform can be broadly used in the $50 billion infectious disease markets. Founded in Ithaca, New York, AvantGuard is redefining what antimicrobial protection can be.

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