{"id":55705,"date":"2025-02-24T09:00:48","date_gmt":"2025-02-24T09:00:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/?p=55705"},"modified":"2025-02-24T11:04:07","modified_gmt":"2025-02-24T11:04:07","slug":"phage-therapies-natures-answer-to-combating-superbugs","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.innovationnewsnetwork.com\/phage-therapies-natures-answer-to-combating-superbugs\/55705\/","title":{"rendered":"Phage therapies: Nature\u2019s answer to combating superbugs"},"content":{"rendered":"
Antimicrobials \u2013 including antibiotics, antivirals, antifungals, and antiparasitics \u2013 are medicines used to prevent and treat infectious diseases in humans, animals and plants.<\/p>\n
So-called superbugs are microbes, typically bacteria, that have become resistant to one or more of the antimicrobial agents that have previously been used to treat them.<\/p>\n
For nearly 100 years, antimicrobials have been helping animals and humans live longer, healthier lives. The extensive and frequently inappropriate use of antibiotics has fuelled the significant and rising instances of multi-drug resistant bacteria and antimicrobial resistance (AMR) as a whole.<\/p>\n
It is estimated that in 2021, 4.71 million deaths were associated with bacterial AMR, including 1.14 million deaths attributable to bacterial AMR.\u00b9 AMR is now recognised as one of the biggest global public health threats and is predicted to cause the death of ten million people annually by the year 2050,\u00b2 presenting as a leading cause of human mortality.<\/p>\n
The threat of AMR is not limited to human health but needs to be viewed in a wider, One Health, context where AMR is impacting the health and productivity of Animals and Crops. The impact of AMR is predicted to cost $1tr by 2030 and cause the world to lose 3.8% of GDP by 2050.\u00b3<\/p>\n In 2015, the World Health Organization (WHO) committed to a Global Action Plan (GAP) to tackle AMR, from which, as of November 2023, 178 countries have developed AMR National Action Plans (NAPs) aligned with the GAP. A key component of the plans is the development of new antimicrobials of which Bacteriophages (a.k.a. phages) are included as a highly promising solution.<\/p>\n Phages are viruses that specifically target and kill bacteria<\/a> and are the most abundant organisms on Earth. Phages are found in every natural environment, from the human gut to the soil of Antarctica.\u00a0 To put this in context, there are estimated to be 1031<\/sup> phage particles in the world with a biomass of 200 million tonnes.\u2074<\/p>\n Evolving alongside bacteria, each phage has typically become specialised to target a specific bacterial strain, and for each bacteria, there will be multiple phages hunting it.<\/p>\n Phages are hunting bacteria as they need to use the bacterial cellular machinery to replicate. Once a phage finds its target bacterium, it binds to the surface and injects its genetic material into the bacterial cell. The bacteria\u2019s cellular machinery is then hijacked to make more phage particles which form inside the bacteria until it bursts, releasing numerous phage to go hunting.<\/p>\n Despite having been discovered and used as therapeutics long before the discovery of antibiotics, phage therapy was largely discounted once antibiotics became available. Antibiotics surpassed phage therapy as they provided broad-spectrum effectiveness against a wide range of bacteria and were cheap and easily administered.<\/p>\n Now that antibiotics are losing their efficacy, eyes are turning back to phage therapy as a solution.\u00a0 With the ready availability of high throughput laboratory techniques, such as genetic sequencing and advanced bioinformatics, the preparation of safe and effective phage therapies is more easily achieved. The past decade has seen a significant increase in the number of phage-based clinical trials undertaken, indicating the renewed interest in phage.<\/p>\n Despite this, many challenges remain, requiring a coordinated effort from a variety of stakeholders, not limited to researchers and clinicians but also funders, regulatory bodies, and governments.\u2075<\/p>\n The development of tools to streamline the isolation, analysis and production of phage will be integral to the widespread implementation of phage therapy. At Cellexus, we are committed to providing phage scientists with a culture platform that is perfect for overcoming the unique challenges of producing phage and supporting their vital work to combat AMR.<\/p>\nWhat are phages?<\/h3>\n
Status of phage therapies and challenges<\/h3>\n