“Phagotherapy, a successful therapy that should not be missed”

2024-08-27 10:00:12

LThe conditions of therapy in the case of bacterial infections are increasing frequently due to the ineffectiveness of antibiotics in the face of resistant germs. At the same time, the pharmaceutical industry is struggling to find new molecules. The example of Mr. Y, who was hospitalized at the Lille University Hospital in December 2023, for another recurrence of the infection of his knee prosthesis, is revealing. For this patient, complete recovery required removal of the prosthesis and amputation. However, an alternative was offered to him: phage therapy.

Discovered by Félix d’Hérelle in 1915, while working at the Pasteur Institute, phage therapy uses specific viruses, bacteriophages, which reside in the body’s environment and destroy bacteria in a targeted manner without having destructive effects on human cells. . Unfortunately, this therapy has been forgotten in the West in favor of antibiotics, with a very broad activity, while in some countries such as Georgia, phage therapy has continued to be used. But the absence of prospective clinical studies demonstrating the effectiveness of phage therapy is currently a barrier to adoption by the medical community. However, the situation is changing.

In 2016, challenged by doctors, providers and patient groups, the National Agency for Safety of Medicines and Health Products (ANSM) convened for the first time. Temporary special scientific committee (CSST) dedicated to phage therapy. Experts pave the way for “Procedures for the early supply of bacteriophages for sympathetic conditions, in the absence of treatment, with a detailed protocol of use”.

Difficult access

During the following two years, thirty-five requests for phage therapy were sent to the ANSM and only twelve patients benefited from the administration of bacteriophages, mainly from the Phaxam company, the only French manufacturer. In 2019, the new CSST noted that the number of patients treated in relation to the number of relevant conditions is low, mainly due to the virtual absence of approved bacteriophages. It ends with the need to create a “National platform for guidance and validation of the use of bacteriophages (…) that can ultimately work on the implementation of a learning process.