GAMA Healthcare and Cardiff University

GAMA Healthcare is a company which specialises in infection prevention solutions and aims to reduce healthcare-associated infections worldwide. Established by 2 doctors who saw a need for improved cleaning in hospitals, GAMA now supplies products to every NHS Trust in the UK.

A partnership was established between GAMA and Cardiff University that has resulted in more than £500,000 being invested in research in Wales, in the form of research grants as well as employment opportunities in Wales for 4 post-doctoral scientists, 2 research technicians and several students within the School of Pharmacy and Pharmaceutical Sciences at Cardiff University. Cardiff University’s expertise in pharmaceutical microbiology, led by Prof. Jean­Yves Maillard, has been key to this success.

Together Cardiff University and GAMA have taken part in many Knowledge Transfer Partnerships – programmes which link researchers with businesses to drive innovation and find solutions to problems. The first of the KTPs to come from the partnership focused on tackling C.difficile infections in Wales. This included the first field trial of GAMA’s innovative product: Clinell Sporicidal Wipes, which kill 99.9999% of spores in just 1 minute. The use of GAMA’s wipes in real-life were shown to provide a better control of multi-drug resistant organisms than the infection control regimen in please.  This project won the Cardiff University 2015‘Innovation and Impact Awards – People’s Choice Award’ and the ‘Business Innovation Award’. They also received the Insider’s Business and Education Partnerships Award 2015 in the category of Research and Development.

This has been an outstanding partnership for Wales combining innovative research, employment opportunities and impact upon society at large.