In April last year, a 50-year-old man suffering from a severe infection of multidrug-resistant bacteria was admitted to the UC San Diego Medical School. As every antibiotic failed, the man slipped into a coma and was nearing death. As a last resort, doctors administered an experimental phage preparation intravenously. The man recovered completely. Of course, this incident cannot be compared with a full-scale clinical trial. But it definitely shows the potential of this therapeutic measure.
Development and approval pathways need to be designed. The US Food and Drug Administration has already sanctioned the use of phages in many foods as well as in agricultural and husbandry products. The European Union has started testing the efficacy of the phage therapy on the burn wounds in a project named Phagoburn. These are undoubtedly the first steps towards the possibility of a full-scale clinical use.
There are no phage therapy centers or phage production units (that produces phages for therapy) in India. Is there any body who is interested in phage company or phage production for therapeutics like a start-up. If there is any, please contact me, Prasanth Manohar
PHAGElogist 