When will phage therapy be used?

Phage therapy is the use of bacteriophages to treat bacterial infections. This could be used as an alternative to antibiotics when bacteria develop resistance. Superbugs that are immune to multiple types of drugs are becoming a concern with the more frequent use of antibiotics.

How safe and effective is phage therapy?

In all, 87\% of the studies found phage therapy to be effective against targeted bacteria, and 67\% showed the tested phages were safe, with no connection between treatment and patient deaths or adverse side effects. The researchers noted that two studies showed side effects after phage treatment.

What do you think are some of the risks of phage therapy using bacteriophage to treat bacterial infections )?

Phages may trigger the immune system to overreact or cause an imbalance. Some types of phages don’t work as well as other kinds to treat bacterial infections. There may not be enough kinds of phages to treat all bacterial infections. Some phages may cause bacteria to become resistant.

What is phage therapy and why is it receiving more attention now than ever?

Phages are attracting increasing attention for therapeutic approaches against antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections [1]. They exert therapeutic effects by killing bacteria and have been applied successfully against various bacterial infections since their discovery about 100 years ago.

What are the benefits and challenges of phage therapy?

In terms of “Pros,” for example, phages can be bactericidal, can increase in number over the course of treatment, tend to only minimally disrupt normal flora, are equally effective against antibiotic-sensitive and antibiotic-resistant bacteria, often are easily discovered, seem to be capable of disrupting bacterial …

Is phage therapy available in USA?

Although scientists have been aware of phages and their ability to kill bacteria since 1917, the first U.S.-based clinical trials of phage therapy have only recently begun. Individual U.S. patients have received phage therapy, but only under emergency investigational new drug protocols.

Is phage therapy FDA approved?

(APT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to providing therapies to treat the global rise of bacterial and viral infectious diseases, today announced that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has cleared its Investigational New Drug (IND) application for PhageBank™ phage therapy for the treatment …

Why are lytic phages used in phage therapy?

Phage therapy mainly utilizes obligately lytic phages to kill their respective bacterial hosts, while leaving human cells intact and reducing the broader impact on commensal bacteria that often results from antibiotic use.

What is the advantage of phage therapy over antibiotics?

Phages won’t harm any of your cells except for the bacterial cells that they’re meant to kill. Phage therapy has fewer side effects than antibiotics. On the other hand, most antibiotics have a much wider host range. Some antibiotics can kill a wide range of bacterial species at the same time.

What is the beneficial effect of phages?

Bacteriophages (BPs) are viruses that can infect and kill bacteria without any negative effect on human or animal cells. For this reason, it is supposed that they can be used, alone or in combination with antibiotics, to treat bacterial infections.

Is phage therapy legal in Australia?

For now, phage therapy is only available in Australia through clinical trials, like the one at Westmead. It is unlikely to be used more widely in hospitals and clinics until the results of these current studies are known.

Is phage therapy available in North America?