BioPhage-PR / Cystic Fibrosis

BioPhage-PR is AmpliPhi Biosciences’ bacteriophage therapeutic for the treatment of lung infections associated with cystic fibrosis.

Pseudomonas Aeurginosa in Cystic Fibrosis

Pseudomonas aeruginosa is the leading cause of death among people with cystic fibrosis (CF) and is a serious health concern for all sufferers. This represents a very significant potential use for a bacteriophage-based anti-Pseudomonas therapy; there are 63,000 patients living with CF in North America and the European Union. CF causes the body to produce a thick, sticky mucus within the lungs and elsewhere.

This chokes the lungs and aids the retention of bacteria, notably Pseudomonas aeruginosa, where the rate of infection rises to over 80 percent in adults with CF. Evidence for a specific genetic susceptibility to Pseudomonas among CF patients is now apparent.

At present, Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection in CF patients is treated with the most advanced form of treatment, aerosolised tobramycin (TOBI).  However, even repeated treatment is not able to clear the infection. Resistance to tobramycin is also rising. Todar’s Textbook of Bacteriology notes that “The futility of treating Pseudomonas infections with antibiotics is most dramatically illustrated in cystic fibrosis patients, virtually all of whom eventually become infected with a strain that is so resistant that it cannot be treated”.