2024-07-28 06:00:59
We had scientific article announced in June the preliminary results of the first therapy as well bacteriophage virus Made in Spain, in Valencia. These viruses, known as pages, is used to attack infections against which antibiotics no longer work. The bacteria are becoming more and more anti resistant.
Levels are one of the few hopes against this resistance, which causes millions of deaths each year. Therapies developed abroad are already used in Spain. Therapies of Valencia place Spain among the few countries that have it Approved Policy to prepare phages for clinical use.
To date, he has used it 13 people – as the first incumbent, Pilar Domingo-Calap, researcher at the Institute of Integrative Systems Biology (I2SysBio) of the University of Valencia -, mostly with cystic fibrosisa disease that causes the accumulation of mucus in the lungs, which promotes the growth of difficult bacteria.
Its effectiveness cannot be taken for granted. The therapy has been sent mercy, that is, as a last resort in the face of failure of other methods. The procedure has not passed the test of a clinical trial, the only one that can confirm its effectiveness, rather than anecdotal cases.
From accepting to live a normal life
However, some events attract attention. For example, if Irene Nevadaa 44-year-old nurse with cystic fibrosis, who received a lung transplant in 2003 and another in 2016 – an experience that inspired her to help other patients as ‘coach connection.
In the year 2023, a bacteria It’s in his implanted lungs and no antibiotics can get rid of it. “I’ve heard about Pilar. Nevado said: “I contacted him through a group of patients. Domingo-Calap asked him for a bacterial diagnosis of his sputum. “We have one large phage library and we always look for the one that leads to success in each patient’s examination,” explained the biologist. There are many phages in nature, in any environment where there are bacteria: soil, water, organisms, etc.
The important thing about Valencian therapy is that it activates the viruses. That is, it fixes a small version of those natural selectionwhich generates phages especially benign against the patient’s specific bacteria.
Also, Domingo-Calap has achieved a system to produce sterile baskets, even without having a clean room. This process has made his therapy the first to receive the green light (exclusion for compassionate use) from the Spanish Agency for Medicines and Health Products (AEMPS), Spanish pharmaceutical authority.
In February 2023, Domingo-Calap traveled with those cans from Valencia to Madrid, where Nevado lived, in order to draw them for ten days. “After three days, I started to notice that I had some blood and the color was almost pale,” said the patient. At the end of the cycle, the bacterial load in your sputum is reduced to mortarwithout experiencing any side effects.
Nevado has recovered this year and has finally freed himself from the bacteria as well combination of phages and antibiotics. “If phage therapy had been available years ago, maybe I wouldn’t need a transplant,” he reflected.
The challenge of clinical trial
The June post refers to another two patients with cystic fibrosis. As in the case of Nevada, they went through ten days phage fogging without having side effects. One recorded significant improvements and the other did not. The scientist said: “In many cases we notice a progress. It is not clear why it does not occur in some.
“The results have to be taken with caution. It is a small sample and there are still cases of failure. But we have the first indication of effectiveness,” he said. Susana Campoymicrobiologist at the Autonomous University of Barcelona, was not involved in the Domingo-Calap project.
The next step for phage therapy will be to overcome these examination of a clinical trial. The personalized nature of therapy complicates this. “It takes a lot of money,” said Domingo-Calap, who has financed his research with public funds, investment in off-the-shelf (‘Evolving Therapeutics’) and even voluntary donations from business. Get a car.
“The layers can also be used to disinfect materials, in food packaging, against plant diseases. However, we have not yet reached the point of getting the OK from the authorities,” he said. Maite Muniesamicrobiologist at the University of Barcelona, does not participate in the Valencian therapy.
New research offers clues about what phage therapy of the future might look like. In this case, we have seen that patients develop the antibiotics against the phages they have taken. If they are also infected with the same bacteria, a different phage will have to be used to get around those viruses.
“There are those who bet on it phage cocktails standard that you can buy in a pharmacy. These results suggest that it would be important to develop a formula personal weakness in each case,” Domingo-Calap observed. Will phages become drugs or will they be in clinical therapy? Will there be pharmaceutical companies willing to invest in them? Will they be an expensive personal medicine or something affordable?
Experts believe it is pronto To clear doubts. Muniesa and Campoy believe that phage cocktails are non-destructive and can be used at least in rare diseases.
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