Purgo Scientific

Purgo Scientific, Inc. is a South Jordan, Utah-based medical device and health science company developing sustained, localized drug delivery technology for the management of surgical and biofilm-related infections. Its lead product, the Purgo Pouch, is a refillable implantable reservoir connected to a catheter that exits the skin; a rate-controlled semi-permeable membrane allows passive diffusion of an antibiotic solution (tobramycin is cited on the company's technology page) into the surgical wound site over a concentration gradient, without pumps, batteries or electronics. The device sustains delivery for up to 30 days, can be refilled or loaded with a different drug without additional surgery, and is deflated and withdrawn through the catheter tract when treatment is complete.

The company positions the Purgo Pouch against oral and IV antibiotics, antibiotic-impregnated beads, and local antibiotic powder or lavage, claiming, on the basis of preclinical work, advantages in biofilm eradication, continuous daily therapy and flexibility to change antibiotics. As of the company's website, the Purgo Pouch is a preclinical combination product, with claims based on preclinical studies conducted in more than 140 sheep and clinical testing planned for 2027. Purgo also operates a veterinary subsidiary, Vetlen Advanced Veterinary Devices, which the company describes as commercially active following a distribution expansion.

The organization spans human and animal health applications. Leadership includes CEO Dr. Cherice Roth (a DVM with master's degrees in biochemistry and business administration, previously Chief Veterinary Officer of Digital Pet Health at Mars Veterinary Health and CMO at Fuzzy), CTO Nicolas Ashton, PhD, COO Angy Guerrant (previously Zomedica and MPI Research), Principal Engineer Brian Barnum, Controller Rachal Allred, Board Chairman Michael Benjamin, and Vice Chair Stephanie Morley, DVM, who is also President of Vetlen.

Founding story

Founder and Chief Science Officer Dustin Williams, PhD, a professor of orthopaedics at the University of Utah, traces the company's origin to an encounter two decades earlier while serving as a missionary in a Quito, Ecuador slum, where he met a double above-the-knee amputee with severely infected wounds; the experience led him to pursue infection control. After a microbiology degree from Weber State, work at ARUP Laboratories and collaboration with the VA on osseointegrated implants, his PhD work produced an antibiotic-releasing polymer-metal coating, which he says was licensed away by the technology transfer office because of terms in a materials transfer agreement. He later co-launched Curza Global, which pivoted away from his antimicrobial focus. The Purgo concept emerged from inverting dialysis: using a semi-permeable membrane to release drug outward rather than filter it, attached to a refillable reservoir and catheter. Williams validated the idea with a $37,000 internal grant, and with postdoctoral fellow Nic Ashton and engineering staff built early prototypes tested in a sheep model developed during his PhD.

Business model

Development-stage medical device company advancing a combination product toward regulatory clearance via a De Novo pathway for human surgical use, while commercializing related localized delivery devices in animal health through its Vetlen Advanced Veterinary Devices subsidiary, including distribution partnerships.

Traction

Preclinical studies have been conducted in more than 140 sheep, including a published in vivo efficacy study of the refillable intrawound drug delivery device in a sheep model of biofilm-compromised open fracture-related infection. Clinical testing is planned for 2027. The company reports continued commercial momentum at its veterinary subsidiary Vetlen following a distribution expansion, and has been backed by the Utah Innovation Fund and MedTech Innovator.

Latest developments

In 2025 the company appointed medical device executive Tim Nieman to its board of directors, an appointment also reported as Chief Business Officer, and named Dr. Cherice Roth Chief Executive Officer of Purgo Scientific and Vetlen. The company also reported continued commercial progress at Vetlen following a distribution expansion.