The next stage in the fight against antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is underway in Birmingham, following a strategic partnership established by the Precision Health Technologies Accelerator (PHTA) and Inteliphage, a Belgium-headquartered bacteriophage technology company developing an integrated platform for personalised phage therapy.
Designated as one of the top ten global health challenges of our time by the World Health Organization (WHO), AMR already contributes to around 4.95 million deaths per year with one in six bacteria now resistant to the most commonly-used antibiotics. Over the past five years alone, the burden of resistance has increased by 40%, and AMR-related deaths are predicted to rise to 10 million per year by 2050 – unless effective action is taken.
With antibiotic treatment options running out, bacteriophages – or phages – are emerging as a complementary weapon in the battle against AMR. A broad category of viruses, phages selectively recognise and attach to susceptible bacterial targets, injecting their own DNA into the bacteria. This process ultimately destroys the targeted bacteria while producing new phages to continue the attack, generally leaving ‘good’ bacteria and human cells undamaged.
For phage therapy to be effective in tackling AMR, the right bacteriophages for each patient’s infection need to be selected. To enable this, Inteliphage is developing PhageXpert™, an automated phage susceptibility testing (phagogram) workflow combining a kit and software to support timely and evidence-based phage selection. In parallel, the company is developing a phage library focused on clinically relevant bacterial strains, together with the capabilities required for quality-assured phage supply through applicable clinical and regulatory pathways.
Through its partnership with PHTA, Inteliphage will advance the development and implementation of PhageXpert™ in the UK and support its route to market, including potential applications across civilian and military healthcare.
David Browning, Chief Technology Officer of PHTA, said: “The University of Birmingham is a global powerhouse in tackling drug-resistant infections through the National Institute for Health and Care Research (NIHR)Translational Research Collaboration in Infection and AMR, UKRI-funded TargetAMR Network, and the global BactiVac community. Given the scale and urgency of the challenge, we will work with industry partners across the full spectrum of AMR research and innovation.
“By establishing a presencewithin PHTA – the University’s flagship life sciences research facility – Inteliphage will benefit from the clinical-academic connections it needs to develop and scale, as well as close links with the Royal Centre for Defence Medicine and regulatory and commercialisation support.
“Phages are a genuinely exciting prospect in tackling infections and reducing needless deaths, and Inteliphage is joining forces with PHTA at a pivotal time in its journey – we are very excited to get to work.”
Charles Perrard, CEO of Inteliphage, said: “Joining PHTA gives Inteliphage direct access to exactly the kind of scientific, clinical and commercial ecosystem we need to advance our PhageXpert™ phagogram and phage treatment platform in the UK. This collaboration creates a strong basis for connecting appropriate phage selection with quality-assured supply and clinical implementation.”
Gunther Vanwezer, Chief Business Officer of Inteliphage, added: “Birmingham’s combination of advanced laboratory infrastructure, NHS connectivity through Birmingham Health Partners, and a clear pathway to national scale makes it the right base for our UK expansion. We see this as the beginning of a long-term partnership that can help establish practical clinical pathways linking phage susceptibility testing with access to phage therapy as part of the response to antimicrobial resistance.”
The partners will assess how GMP-compliant phage manufacturing and supply could support the diagnostic and commercialisation activities of the partnership, clinical studies and appropriately authorised patient access. Establishing such capability would address a critical gap in bringing phage therapy to patients at scale. This follows PHTA’s recent announcement of UK Government and NIHR funding for its forthcoming GMP cleanroom development.
Further details of the collaboration, including planned diagnostic, manufacturing and clinical implementation milestones, will be announced in the coming months.
Notes
References to phage susceptibility testing, phage libraries, GMP-compliant manufacturing, hospital pharmacy supply models and patient-access pathways describe development and assessment activities. They do not imply authorisation for routine clinical use or commercial supply in the UK or EU. Any patient use, where permitted, would occur only through applicable clinical, pharmacy and regulatory pathways.
Learn more about AMR work at Birmingham
➡️ BactiVac
➡️ NIHR Translational Research Collaboration (TRC) in Infection and AMR launch news story
➡️ Interdisciplinary Research Centre for Confronting Antimicrobial Resistance
