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"'Tis ours to tread an untried path
'Tis ours the future to prepare"
-- Ilia Chavchavadze, 19th century Georgian poet in "Lines to the Georgian Mother" | |
ABT draws its business model from the rich Georgian heritage that provides the foundation for its products. As suggested by the 19th century Georgian poet Ilia Chavchavadze in his "Lines to the Georgian Mother," we are joining our Georgian partners along the "untried path." Phage therapy has proven its effectiveness behind the Iron Curtain for decades - but western science has not yet embraced its practical efficacy.
Western scientists abandoned phage technology in its infancy when the "magic bullet" of antibiotics became available. As the Soviet Union could not afford antibiotics, it poured its resources into the perfection of phage technology - and Georgia became the Global Center of Excellence.
Meanwhile, western medicine entered the "Golden Age of Antibiotics" - an era that has lasted more than 60 years. This long-term reliance upon antibiotics has prompted bacterial adaptation - meaning that new antibiotic-resistant bacteria have appeared. Futhermore, declining profit margins have curtailed the research and development of new antibiotics.
ABT brings distinct advantages to the age-old fight against "killer bugs." Producing over 20 phage therapy products; holding the rights to a library of approximately 3,000 commercial phages; and possessing decades of technical and production expertise, ABT is striving to establish the global vitality and commercial viability of phage therapy for medical, agricultural, and environmental applications. We also seek to help develop jobs and growth for Georgia as it continues its evolution into a market economy.
Together with our global allies and strategic partners, we are determined to heed Chavchavadze's rallying cry: to recognize our obligation to prepare for the future, when antiobiotics and other solutions will simply no longer be enough.
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| View of the junction of the Mtkvari and Jvari rivers near Tbilisi - where Dr. Giorgi Eliava first observed phages |
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The Georgian Legacy
How a hardy society with a knack for overcoming adversity harnessed nature's ancient mechanism for controlling bacteria
Typically, a growing business uses this space merely to tout its own history. Yet, ABT is the beneficiary of the Georgian people and their knack for overcoming adversity. We stand upon their shoulders. Their legacy is our gift - and our future. |
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| Ancient Georgian Orthodox Cathedral |
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d'Herelle, Eliava - and Stalin - establish Georgia as the "Global Center of Excellence"
Multiple historical coincidences placed the Republic of Georgia on the path to becoming the Global Center for Excellence for phage research, development, and production.
The first such coincidence involved Dr. Felix d’Herelle’s emphatic identification with Communism (in 1917, this French-Canadian scientist was the first to identify and name phages). The second coincidence occurred when Dr. Giorgi Eliava observed and identified phage activity at the junction of the Mtkvari and Jvari rivers near Tbilisi, Georgia in the 1920s (see picture of this junction above) simultaneous with but independent from d’Herelle’s ongoing phage studies in Paris, France. The third coincidence brought d’Herelle and Eliava together in Paris - the beginning of a close friendship that led d’Herelle to eagerly accept when Eliava invited him to pursue his research in Tbilisi (at this time, Georgia was part of the Soviet Union).
Eliava and d’Herelle founded the Eliava Institute in Tbilisi to advance the study of phages and their possible applications. That’s when a fourth coincidence elevated their venture into a national priority for the Soviet Union.
As a native Georgian, Soviet dictator Josef Stalin took a special interest in the Eliava Institute and its work. He ensured that the Institute received liberal funding. Stalin also quickly ascertained phage therapy’s usefulness in protecting Soviet military forces from disease, particularly as they battled the Axis Powers in the Second World War.
The Soviet government continued Stalin’s heavy support of phage research, development, and production after Stalin’s death in 1953. At the height of its operation in the 1980s, the Eliava Institute employed a staff of 1,200 people and produced approximately two tons of phage products per day. While Western medicine battled bacterial pathogens with the “magic bullet” of antibiotics, Georgian scientists painstakingly isolated, stabilized, and learned how to effectively apply phage therapy to achieve the same goal at a far lower cost - with miraculous effectiveness throughout the Soviet Union.
With generous support from Moscow, the Eliava Institute became one of the largest infectious disease research centers in the world, producing a wide range of vaccines and bacteriology products. Specifically, the Eliava Institute became the largest institution dedicated to the research, development, and production of phage therapy products. The Eliava Institute dispatched microbiologists to sites of severe disease outbreaks worldwide. These scientists collected the bacterial pathogens that caused these diseases, taking a particular interest in antibiotic-resistant strains.
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| Old Tbilisi |
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The Soviet Union collapses - and a team of Georgian scientists works to preserve a legacy
When the Republic of Georgia declared its independence following the collapse of the Soviet Union, the Eliava Institute's financial support from Moscow ceased instantaneously. Almost overnight, the Eliava Institute confronted its imminent demise. It no longer possessed the capacity to conduct most scientific activities - and it could not even afford to pay salaries.
In response to these circumstances, the Eliava Institute split into two separate divisions: 1) Research & Development and 2) Production & Manufacturing. Rearranging the organizational structure did little to alleviate the emerging financial difficulties. In a short period of time, the Eliava Institute was transformed from a government favorite in a state-controlled economy to an orphan in an emerging market economy. Its future was in doubt.
External pressures also threatened the survival of Georgia’s collection of production and research phages. In particular, intermittent electrical service in Tbilisi meant that the incubators, freezers, and other essential equipment for maintaining the phage collection became unreliable. As conditions deteriorated, Georgia’s production and research phage collection dwindled from approximately 5,000 to an estimated 3,500.
A new strategy was necessary to ensure the survival of this collection - together with the accumulated scientific expertise and production know-how it contained. Privatization provided the answer.
Dr. Leila Kalandarishvili led a team of Georgian scientists in pursuing this path. Correctly perceiving the importance of preserving the key assets associated with Georgia's phage industry, they acquired the production division of the Eliava Institute. Dr. Kalandarishvili assumed the financial responsibility of maintaining production equipment and ensuring reliable sources of power and water (by purchasing electrical generator equipment and drilling a well).
By virtue of these timely investments, Dr. Kalandarishvili and her colleagues were able to transform Georgia's phage collection into the core pillar of a new enterprise (orginally named Biomedic). As the sole owner of this new company, Dr. Kalandarishvili consolidated much of Georgia’s production phage collection into a “phage library.”
In 1994, Dr. Kalandarishvili merged Biomedic into a new joint stock company called Biopharm, through which she continued to collect new strains of bacteria in order to extract new phages. She also turned her attention to the legal and practical imperatives of building a successful phage-based business. She secured more than 20 Georgian patents on phage products; obtained the necessary commercial production licenses; and met Georgian registration requirements.
In 2001, Dr. Kalandarishvili formed Advanced Biophage Technologies, LLC (ABT) in partnership with American businessman William B. McCall, transferring her sole rights in the phage library to this new corporation. In 2003, she transferred all of her patents, production equipment, and production licenses from Biopharm to a new company called Biopharm-L. Dr. Kalandarishvili owns 100% of Biopharm-L, which remains the only Georgian company which is currently licensed and equipped for the production of commecial phage products.
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| Church of the Virgin adorned by monument to King Vakhtang Gorgasali, founder of Tbilisi |
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A global strategy for commercializing phage therapy
Dr. Kalandarishvili and her scientific team continue to produce phage products. These products retail under the trademarked names “Piophage,” “Intestiphage,” and “Biosept,” among others.
In order to maximize the potential of this technology in the international arena, ABT is developing a global network of strategic allies.
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