DEBRICHEM® at Wound Care Today 2025: Lessons from Experts

Redefining the Approach to Non-Surgical Debridement

At Wound Care Today 2025, clinicians and healthcare professionals gathered for a special session that focused on rethinking the foundations of chronic wound management. At the heart of the conversation was DEBRICHEM®, a chemical debridement agent that eradicates devitalized tissue, infection, and biofilm in a single 60 second application.

Addressing the clinicians who manage chronic wounds, Hans-Pieter Snels, opened the session with a simple but impactful message: “We are not here to replace surgery, but to give you a new tool that is quick, selective, and effective.”

The Problem with Traditional Debridement

Before delving into the mechanics of DEBRICHEM®, Snels explained the limitations of conventional debridement approaches. Surgical debridement, while effective, is not always feasible, especially in primary care settings or for patients who are medically unfit for this procedure. Some other methods, for example, autolytic and enzymatic debridement, on the other hand, are slow and often fail to clear infection in a timely manner.

“Most chronic wounds contain slough, biofilm, and some level of necrosis,” Snels said. “If you can’t remove that material quickly and effectively, healing stalls. That’s the clinical reality we’re trying to change.”

What is DEBRICHEM®?

DEBRICHEM® is a chemical debridement agent that is developed for patients suffering from non surgical infected wounds, including those facing antibiotic-resistant challenges. Its chemistry is designed to combat infection without resistance, offering a lasting solution where traditional antibiotics fall short.

Advanced Wound Bed Preparation with DEBRICHEM®

By rapidly clearing infection, devitalized tissue, and biofilm in just 60 seconds, DEBRICHEM® enables advanced wound bed preparation without affecting surrounding healthy skin, creating an optimal environment for healing to begin immediately. This can help reduce:

• Frequency of dressing changes
• Nursing time
• Cost of ongoing wound care

“Patients that were stuck for months are now progressing,” shared clinicians. “That changes the trajectory of care and often the outlook for the patient.”

How DEBRICHEM® Works?

DEBRICHEM® works by coming in contact with water in the biofilm, releasing an impressive amount of energy - approximately 1500 kJ/mol. This energy denatures and carbonizes the biofilm’s extracellular polymeric substance (EPS), breaking down its structure and destroying its contents. Over time, the denatured and carbonized material detaches from the wound surface. As it remains in place initially, granulation tissue begins to form underneath, creating the foundation for healing. By eliminating the biofilm barrier, DEBRICHEM® facilitates granulation and reopens the natural path to wound recovery.

Unlike sharp debridement, it is non-invasive, and unlike enzymatic agents, it works in a single session.

Practical Application in the Clinic

To bring the product to life, the session featured a video clinical demonstration by Debbie, a senior nurse from the Pioneer Wound Healing & Lymphoedema Centre. She walked the audience through the full application process using a real patient case of a venous leg ulcer complicated by chronic infection.

 The step-by-step process was as follows:

• The wound was cleaned and anesthetized with EMLA cream.
• DEBRICHEM® was applied to the wound bed and peri-wound area.
• After 60 seconds, it was rinsed off with saline.
• The wound bed immediately showed visual change as the slough and fibrin desiccated and formed a carbonized layer.

"It might be a surprise for many clinicians seeing this for the first time,” said Hans-Pieter Snels, “but this is what we now consider normal.”

Clinical Experience and Insights

The highlight of the session was the presence of two experienced clinicians who shared their personal experience using DEBRICHEM®:

Andrew Sharpe: Advanced Podiatrist, Salford

Operating within one of the UK’s leading multidisciplinary lower limb services in Greater Manchester, Andrew Sharpe shared several compelling cases that demonstrate how DEBRICHEM® has been integrated into local wound care pathways.

• Chronic venous leg ulcer (2.75 years): Patient could not tolerate compression due to pain (10/10). One application of DEBRICHEM® reduced pain to 0/10 overnight and led to 86% wound area reduction in 9 weeks. Patient returned to full care and community support.
• Neuropathic DFU (15 months): Wound had not progressed despite advanced therapies. After DEBRICHEM®, a 45% area reduction was achieved in under two months, prompting further ischemia investigation and revascularization.
• Charcot foot post-surgery: Wound depth and inflammation improved within 4 days of DEBRICHEM® use. Complete healing achieved in ~6 months.
• Infected DFU with removed metalwork: DEBRICHEM® helped stabilize infection and supported antimicrobial therapy. Wound fully healed within 14–16 weeks.

Steven Jeffery: Consultant Plastic & Burns Surgeon, Pioneer Centre

As a surgeon with decades of experience in burns, trauma, and complex wounds, Prof. Steven Jeffery has long relied on surgical debridement as the gold standard.

But in his words, “As a surgeon, I had to eat humble pie, DEBRICHEM® did what I didn’t think anything but a scalpel could. DEBRICHEM® expands the wound care toolbox”.

Jeffery led a service evaluation involving 21 patients with wounds that had shown no healing for an average of 22 months. These patients, most with multiple comorbidities, had stalled wounds complicated by biofilm and necrotic tissue. DEBRICHEM® was applied once, directly to the wound bed.

 “These wounds were going nowhere. But within days, slough reduced, granulation increased, and for the first time in years, they began to close.”

 Among his most compelling examples:

• A patient with HIV and Hepatitis C, for whom sharp debridement posed both clinical and occupational risk, saw dramatic improvement with DEBRICHEM®.
• A patient on long-term opioids for wound pain stopped taking analgesics entirely after a single treatment.
• Wounds suspected to involve pyoderma gangrenosum or extensive biofilm showed visible clearing, with reduced inflammation and return of epithelial activity.

Clinicians involved in the study, including nurses, reported high satisfaction. Jeffery noted that DEBRICHEM® worked not just faster, but with a level of precision and control that surpassed many mechanical options, especially in fragile, high-risk patients.

Pain Reduction: A Consistent Outcome

Although DEBRICHEM® can cause brief discomfort during application, it often leads to significant and lasting pain reduction.

Clinical Observations:

• Most patients tolerate the application well when anesthetic is used.
• Several reported immediate relief, going from a 10/10 to 0/10 on the pain scale.
• Opioid-dependent patients were able to stop medication entirely.
• In Sharpe’s and Jeffery’s evaluations, post-treatment pain scores were consistently lower.

Why It Happens:

Biofilm and infection are known to trigger local inflammation and nociceptor activation. DEBRICHEM® removes these irritants rapidly, reducing inflammation and microbial load in a single treatment, often resulting in a measurable drop in discomfort.

Closing Reflections

As the session drew to a close, Snels left the audience with a measured but confident message: “DEBRICHEM® is not a miracle. It’s a tool and like any tool, it works best in the right hands, at the right time, for the right wound.”

He encouraged clinicians to think proactively to assess wounds not only by size and depth but by the quality of the wound bed and signs of stalled healing. “That’s when DEBRICHEM® shines. You remove the barrier, and the body can do what it’s supposed to do.”

Wound Care Today 2025 offered a powerful platform to showcase the changing landscape of chronic wound management. As the burden of hard-to-heal wounds continues to grow, particularly with aging populations and rising rates of diabetes the need for practical, scalable solutions is more urgent than ever.

DEBRICHEM® offers an elegant answer to a complex problem. It strips the process down to what matters most: removing what doesn’t belong, so that healing can begin.

𝗠𝗼𝗿𝗲 𝗜𝗻𝘀𝗽𝗶𝗿𝗶𝗻𝗴 𝗔𝗿𝘁𝗶𝗰𝗹𝗲𝘀:

✅ Single-Application Biofilm Removal: https://lnkd.in/d-wvAcZD

✅ Powerful Anti-Biofilm Agent Restarts Wound Healing in 60 Seconds: https://lnkd.in/dk_rKDw4

✅ Accelerating Granulation in Wound Healing: https://lnkd.in/dFki_8kc

✅ Role of T.I.M.E.R.S. in Standard of Wound Care: https://lnkd.in/d7NBfk6g

✅ Different Methods of Debridement: An Overview: https://lnkd.in/dDsF-4FR

✅ Combining an Acidic Compound and NPWT: https://lnkd.in/dYAMdN3F

✅ Stabilization of an End-Stage Wound in a Vascular Compromised Amputated Case: https://lnkd.in/dyRgTy8z

✅ Cost-effectiveness of DEBRICHEM®: https://lnkd.in/dQfipWS2

✅ DEBRICHEM® INNOVATING THE FUTURE OF WOUND CARE: https://lnkd.in/dYpwfG-m

✅ Clinical Trial on Chemical Debridement: https://lnkd.in/drw_dN92

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