BioCentury
ARTICLE | Strategy

FDA's phage philosophy

FDA forges paths for phage therapies

August 3, 2017 7:50 PM UTC

Against a backdrop of doubt about the regulators’ outlook for bacteriophage therapeutics, FDA is assuring drug developers the re-emerging modality is firmly on the table. The position should assuage at least some concerns in a field grappling with questions about how to develop multi-agent cocktails, and test the products in the clinic.

At a public workshop co-sponsored by FDA and NIH’s National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases (NIAID) last month, FDA officials outlined key scientific and regulatory issues for bacteriophage therapies, while seeking to allay fears that the bacteria-targeting viruses, known as "phages," would face prohibitive regulatory roadblocks...