An article published in the March 2023 issue of JAMA, “As Superbugs Flourish, Bacteriophage Therapy Recaptures Researchers’ Interest,” features research and input from a variety of infectious diseases experts including commentary from ARLG’s Laboratory Center Director, Robin Patel, MD and ARLG investigator, Robert Schooley, MD. The article, which discusses the development of phage therapy from the 1915 discovery of bacteriophages to now, also references ARLG’s PHAGE Study and the ARLG Phage Taskforce report, “Considerations for the Use of Phage Therapy in Clinical Practice.”
The JAMA article details how the effectiveness of phages—bacteria-infecting viruses—has been questioned since penicillin was found to be a safe, effective treatment for bacterial infections. Since antimicrobial resistance continues to grow, phage therapy is gaining attention as a potential solution to drug-resistant bacterial infections. Between 2016 and 2017, the National Institutes of Health (NIH) quadrupled funding for phage research to $160 million.
When the NIH commissioned the ARLG Phage Taskforce to conduct its evidence review of literature on phage therapy, the final report found “severe gaps” in evidence to support its use in clinical settings. Similar to antibiotics, bacteriophages selectively infect and kill bacterial cells, but ARLG’s report shows the need for more studies to determine the safety and efficacy of phage therapy before physicians can routinely use it in clinical care.
JAMA interviewed Dr. Robin Patel, Director of the Infectious Diseases Research Laboratory at the Mayo Clinic, ARLG’s Laboratory Center Director, and senior author of ARLG’s report for her input. She stated, “There are still so many questions. As a scientist, that excites me—but as a clinician…we don’t have an answer to whether phage therapy works.”
The article covers the NIH’s effort to address questions about the viability of phage therapy as an alternative to antibiotics by funding multiple clinical trials to evaluate safety and effectiveness. It highlights the efforts of many researchers including Dr. Robert Schooley, Distinguished Professor of Medicine, Infectious Diseases at the University of California, San Diego (UCSD), co-founder of the UCSD Center for Innovative Phage Applications and Therapeutics (IPATH), and ARLG investigator. JAMA touches on Dr. Schooley’s work as the co-principal investigator for ARLG’s PHAGE Trial, which is currently enrolling participants to take part in research on intravenous phage therapy for adults with cystic fibrosis.
Read the full article in JAMA