PURE Bioscience Inc. (Nasdaq: PURE) jumped out of the starting blocks Thursday, gaining 27.2% in price to $1.31, on word of encouraging results for one of its products. Volume for the stock was 3.5 million shares, or about 20 times its all-day average.

The creator of the patented silver dihydrogen citrate (SDC) antimicrobial announced preliminary in vitro laboratory results demonstrating SDC’s effectiveness against biofilm in tests conducted by the University of Medicine & Dentistry of New Jersey.

A professor at the school reported, “We have used SDC against single species biofilms of Aggregatibacter actinomycetemcomitans, a causative agent in localized aggressive periodontitis, and S. epidermidis, a pathogen associated with hospital settings. Our results show that these bacteria in the biofilm state are killed within minutes at 30 ppm of SDC. Not only did SDC kill biofilm bacteria, but also it inhibited the biofilm formation at levels as low as 1.5 ppm in a citrate-containing medium.”

Michael L. Krall, President and CEO of PURE Bioscience, commented, “SDC’s ability to eliminate and even prevent biofilm presents a phenomenal market opportunity for PURE. We’re directing ongoing research projects on biofilm not only in public health, but also in industrial environments, including food processing, and oil and gas, as we begin to present SDC as a viable solution to this costly and dangerous problem.”

SDC is a new molecular entity, developed and patented worldwide by PURE Bioscience, a company based in El Cajon, California, which develops and markets technology-based bioscience products that provide solutions to numerous global health challenges.