When Dustin Williams, an orthopaedics professor, became the director of the Bone and Biofilm Research Lab at the University of Utah in 2014, he knew he wanted the lab to work on a diverse set of projects to ensure they always had enough funding.

Over the years they’ve researched infections impacting people with osseointegrated implants, bony overgrowth in amputated limbs, infections that occur with an open fracture and more. The team has consistently taken their research one step further by also developing solutions to those problems.

From bone caps to drug delivery pouches, all of the lab’s projects relate back to its core focus: orthopaedic-related infections. “We’re developing all these different types of technologies that are all connected,” Williams said.

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The University of Utah’s Department of Orthopaedics takes immense pride in the groundbreaking work of researcher Dr. Dustin Williams, along with his collaborators Dr. Nicholas Ashton and Dr. David Rothberg. They have recently been awarded two significant grants from the Department of Defense through the Congressionally Directed Medical Research Program and the U.S. Army Medical Research and Development Command to advance the development of the Purgo Pouch.

The Purgo Pouch, an innovative refillable drug delivery device originally conceived by Dr. Williams, is designed to sustain local, high-dose drug therapy at injury or surgical sites. This technology, licensed from the University of Utah by Drs. Williams and Ashton through their company, Purgo Scientific, has recently received Breakthrough Device Designation from the FDA specifically for treating open fracture-related infections. This recognition underscores the critical need for effective solutions in a field where infection rates have remained stubbornly unchanged over the past 40 years.

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The Purgo Pouch is one of Dr. Williams’ original inventions. It is a refillable drug delivery device that sustains local, high-dose drug therapy in injury or surgical sites. Drs. Williams and Ashton co-founded Purgo Scientific, which licensed the Purgo Pouch technology from the University of Utah. The FDA recently granted the Purgo Pouch Breakthrough Device Designation specifically to treat open fracture-related infections. The Department of Defense has multiple research focus areas targeting this space in part because there is still no effective solution to the problem. For seven years, Dr. Ashton has provided pivotal oversight on Purgo Pouch design aspects, leading it to a manufacturable state. Dr. Rothberg’s clinical insight influenced design considerations and a surgical approach for the device. The Department of Defense is currently providing over $9M in funding for these investigators to continue Purgo Pouch development including additional safety and efficacy tests in a highly unique sheep model, and help their team navigate the FDA review process.

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