Bacteriophages or "phages" are viruses that invade bacterial cells and, in the case of lytic phages, disrupt bacterial metabolism and cause the bacterium to lyse [destruct]. Phage Therapy is the therapeutic use of lytic bacteriophages to treat pathogenic bacterial infections.

Phage Therapy Center provides an effective treatment solution for patients who have bacterial infections that do not respond to conventional antibiotic therapies.

There are a number of difficult infections that do not respond well to current, state-of-the-art therapies in the US and Western Europe. Bacteriophage therapy (also known as phage therapy), which has been used to treat bacterial infections in Eastern Europe over 80 years, is getting a renewed and increasing amount of attention as a promising answer to many of these infections. Bacteriophage therapy is used broadly in certain parts of the former Soviet Union, particularly the Republic of Georgia, which has been the global center of phage expertise for over 80 years. A large majority of established physicians in Georgia prefer phages over antibiotics as first-line therapy for a broad variety of infections. While we do not anticipate that phages will replace antibiotics as the first-line, general antibacterial therapy in major Western countries; we do, however, see a promising role for phages in situations where where antibiotics alone are not sufficient.

An Effective Treatment for Many Difficult Bacterial Infections

Phage Therapy Center specializes in three particular situations where bacteriophage therapy tends to be superior to standard and advanced treatments (including antibiotics) in the US and Western Europe:

Chronic Infections [1]

Antibiotics fail to cure many chronic infections because they are due to biofilms. Biofilms are complex mixtures of microbes that typically resist the effects of antibiotics:

• Chronic and Acute Urinary Tract Infections (UTI) and Cystitis
• Ear Infections (Otitis Media)
• Chronic Sinusitis (Rhinosinusitis)
• Skin Infections
• Intestinal Infections
• Prostatitis and Associated Sexual Problems
• Acne
• Gingivitis
• Herniated disc herapy

Infections Where Circulation is Poor [1]

Poor circulation makes it difficult to deliver the right concentration of antibiotics to the infected area. Such conditions include, but are not limited to, the following:

• Infected Wounds
• Osteomyelitis
• Diabetic Foot
• Tropic Ulcers
• Bed Sores

Infections with Bacteria Resistant to Standard or Advanced Antibiotics [1]

Some but not all of these infections involve situations with poor circulation (such as those mentioned above), where insufficient antibiotic doses foster the growth of resistant bacteria. There are other cases, however, where poor circulation is not an important factor. Such cases can include:

• Staphylococcus spp. (more than one species) including Methicillin Resistant Staphylococcus aureus (MRSA) and Community Associated Staphylococcus aureus (CA-MRSA).
• Streptococcus spp.
• Enterococcus spp.
• E. coli
• Proteus spp.
• Klebsiella pneumoniae
• Pseudomonas aeruginosa
• Several Other Bacterial Strains that are Emerging as Significant Challenges Even to the Most Advanced Antibiotics
• Infections Complicated with Candida and Other Yeast / Fungi

Patients treated by our Georgian medical teams can receive care that is personalized in terms of the actual phages administered. A number of patients treated at Phage Therapy Center have had infections for which new phages need to be developed.

While bacteria may develop resistance to phages, it is incomparably easier to develop new phages than new antibiotics. In nature, as bacteria evolve resistance, relevant phages will evolve in concert. While this adaptability is most often played out in nature, it may also be harnessed in the laboratory. A few weeks are needed to obtain new phages for a newly-emerging strain of resistant bacteria. This is in favorable, sharp contrast to the seven to twelve years required to discover and develop a new antibiotic and get it approved by the FDA in the US. In other words, when a highly resistant bacteria subspecies (known in the press as a "superbug’) appears, a "superphage" may be readily isolated and produced against it.

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[1] Note: some of the above treatment protocols can be licensed to qualified practitioners and physicians outside of Georgia. For more information please contact our business development personnel.

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