A: In the Western world, antibiotic treatment of bacterial infections has become a pillar of modern medicine - and that's the problem. Decades of overuse have compromised the effectiveness of antibiotics, as bacteria have adaptated and mutated into new multiresistant and increasingly virulent strains. In short, we are living on "borrowed time," as physicians frequently must prescribe two or three antibiotics to defeat one infection.
Fortunately, phage therapy offers an effective supplement to antibiotic treatments - or, perhaps even a complete alternative in some cases.
Q. Can phages be used as preventative medicine - i.e., to destroy a pathogen before it causes disease?
Yes. Phages can destroy potentially dangerous pathogens before they cause disease.
Q. Can phages be used in combination with antibiotics?
Yes - and the combination has proven effective in treating many infections.
Q: Is ABT's mission focused upon diagnostics, therapy, or remediation?
A: ABT's central mission is the commercialization of phage-based treatment of bacterial infection. Thus, ABT's focus is upon therapy and environmental remediation rather than diagnostics. ABT is not involved in producing genetically-modified organisms.
Q: What kind of therapies and environmental remediation drive ABT's business model?
In the republics of the former Soviet Union, ABT and its production affililiate, Biopharm-L, are engaged in the production and marketing of an extensive line of phage-based medical treatments. ABT's global strategy is focused primarily upon the identification of agricultural, aquacultural, and environmental problems for which phage therapy can provide potential remediation. As phage therapy gains wider acceptance outside of the former "Eastern Bloc," ABT hopes to lead the way in providing phage therapy as a legitimate treatment for the entire spectrum of bacterial diseases.
Q: What about the competition posed by purportedly "new and better" antibiotics?
A: "New and better" antibiotics do not constitute a realistic alternative for both economic and practical reasons. Companies investing in the research and development of new antibiotics will likely never recover their investment, as the economic life of a new antibiotic will be short - primarily due to the rapid emergence of antibiotic-resistant strains of bacteria. This economic calculus may describe why major pharmaceuticals have transitioned away from discovering and producing new antibotics.
Q: Does ABT plan to seek U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approval for the medical use of its phage-based products in the United States?
A: Currently, ABT does not envision marketing phage therapy within the United States for human use, due to the costs and non-economic barriers associated with regulatory approval. Nevertheless, ABT will consider opportunities to pursue non-medical applications of phage therapy within the United States under appropriate circumstances.
Q: Are phages natural or synthetic?
A: Phages are entirely natural. As the most abundant form of life on our planet, phages constitute an essential and innate mechanism through which nature controls the growth of bacteria.
Each milliliter of ocean water may contain more than 10 million phages. Phages naturally occur in what we eat and drink. Phages even reside in our oral cavity and digestive system.
Q: Have the phages used to produce ABT's phage therapy products been genetically modified?
A: No. The phages ABT uses to produce all of its phage therapy products have been isolated from nature. They have not been genetically modified or manipulated in any way. They do not constitute "Genetically Modified Organisms" (GMOs).
Q: Are U.S. organizations involved in the development and commercialization of phage technology?
A: Yes. The American Society for Microbiology (ASM) and many university researchers are following developments in phage technology very closely. Many concerns have embarked upon efforts to discover commercial applications, either by themselves or as part of international concerns.
Q: Why was phage therapy abandoned during the 20th century in favor of antibiotics - and why is it more acceptable today?
A: When western concerns first engaged in widespread attempts to commercialize phage treatments in the 1920s, scientific knowledge about phages and phage therapy was minimal. In fact, scientists had not conclusively determined that phages were a living organism (instead of an enzyme) until 1942. This confusion regarding the very essence of phages led to significant problems in the production of effective phage therapies. Scientists did not understand how precise the match between specific phages and their bacterial targets had to be in order for phage therapy to work. As a result, many early phage preparations did not contain the phages that were essential to their effectiveness against the particular infection they were produced to treat.
In short, the same characteristics that make phages an attractive treatment alternative today (such as their highly selective ability to destroy harmful bacteria while leaving "good bacteria" intact) impeded the effectiveness of phages then.
When the "magic bullet" of antibiotics emerged, western concerns quickly abandoned phage research - leaving the subsquent development of phage therapy to the Soviet Union. 70 years later, phage therapy has evolved into a highly specialized treatment that has the potential to rival antibiotics in effectiveness, cost, and therapeutic efficacy. And ABT is ideally positioned to lead the way.
Q: What is the current involvement of major pharmaceutical concerns in the development and adoption of phage therapy?
A: They are paying attention - as evidenced by the recent entry of Eli Lilly's animal treatment subsidiary, Elanco, into the field.
Q: What separates ABT from its competition in the emerging field of phage therapy?
A: ABT has access to decades of experience in practical application of phage therapy across the spectrum of its potential uses, together with the phage library, patents, and production capacity to support it.