SINGAPORE - Hyflux and Changi General Hospital announced on Wednesday (Feb 15) that they will conduct the first human clinical trials of the company's ELO Water on diabetes.
The trials will study whether patients with diabetes can obtain better glycaemic control by drinking ELO Water in addition to their ongoing lifestyle and medical treatments, and whether diabetic foot or ankle ulcers can be treated with ELO Water bath and ELO Gel, they said in a joint statement.
Dr Joan Khoo, Senior Consultant and Chief of Endocrinology at CGH, is the principal investigator of both trials.
Hyflux is committing up to S$2.5 million in cash and in kind to human clinical trials to further ascertain the scientific merits of its ELO Water.
ELO Water is created through technology that allows a high level of oxygen to exist in the water in a unique, stable and bound form that is believed to allow quick absorption by the body, restoring its natural balance and enhancing health and overall well-being.
Positive results have been obtained from animal trials of ELO Water conducted overseas, said the statement.
Trials conducted by researchers at Monash University in Australia on transplanted human cancerous tumours in mice showed that ELO Water through oral application was able to be absorbed and penetrated into the tumours, enhancing oxygen levels inside the cancers and inhibiting their growth.
Said CGH CEO Dr Lee Chien Earn: "Hyflux has come to us with an interesting hypothesis based on animal studies that could help our patients with diabetes. We have thus embarked on this research collaboration to test this hypothesis in a robust scientific way."
"If the trials are successful, it will ultimately improve the quality of life for diabetic patients," said Ms Olivia Lum, Hyflux executive chairman and group CEO. .
Diabetes is a big public health concern for Singapore. In 2015, International Diabetes Federation reported that 12.8 per cent or 541,600 of Singaporeans aged 20 years to 79 years have diabetes.
The prevalence of Type 2 diabetes in Singapore is forecast to double from 7.3 per cent in 1990 to 15 per cent by 2050.
