Archive for month: January, 2019

Antibiotic resistance is increasing worldwide. To meet this challenge, the development of alternative therapies is urgently required. Consequently, the Fraunhofer Institute for Toxicology and Experimental Medicine ITEM, the Leibniz Institute DSMZ-German Collection of Microorganisms and Cell Cultures GmbH, Charité – Universitätsmedizin Berlin, and Charité Research Organisation GmbH have come together to initiate the “Phage4Cure” project. The goal is to establish bacteriophages as an approved medicinal product against bacterial infections. The Federal Ministry of Education and Research (BMBF) is funding the project with nearly four million euros over three years.

The goal of the German research project “Phage4Cure” is to establish bacteriophages as an approved medicinal product in the fight against infections. Bacteriophages are viruses that recognize and infect strains of a specific bacterial species with high specificity, ultimately destroying them. Especially in Eastern Europe, phages have already been used successfully for decades as an alternative and supplement to classic antibiotic therapy. However, they have not yet been approved as medicinal products in the European Union. Reasons for this include a lack of quality standards in manufacturing, which are essential for approval by pharmaceutical authorities. Furthermore, it must first be demonstrated in systematic clinical trials that phage therapy is safe, tolerable, and effective. The project partners have set themselves the goal of implementing this.