Minhang biotech company leading the charge against antibiotic resistance

A biotech company in Minhang District's Xinzhuang Industrial Zone is trying to tackle antibiotic resistance by tapping the potential of bacteriophage (also known as phage, a group of viruses that infect bacteria).

More than 1.4 million people die of antibiotic resistance each year. Chinese account for half that number.

Among the proposals at this year's Two Sessions, Zhu Tongyu, deputy dean of Shanghai Medical College Fudan University, called for the rational use of antibiotics, research into new antibacterial therapies and, especially, categorizing phage into the national list of pharmaceutical raw materials.

"As a kidney transplant specialist, I witnessed 54 percent of organ transplant recipients who died in the first year after the operation had suffered from antibiotic resistance," said Zhu.

CreatiPhage Biotech is one company involved in seeking solutions using phage to fight drug-resistant bacteria.

Bacteriophage was discovered by scientists more than a century ago. Yet it was eclipsed by antibiotics in wiping out bacteria after penicillin was discovered by Scottish scientist Alexander Fleming in 1928.

It was not until antibiotic resistance became a global problem that phage was recognized once again for its potential.

"The US has earned approval for several phage preparation formulas from the European Union. Yet in China phage hasn't been listed in the pharmaceutical raw material catalogue. We had better allow the new biotech to benefit our patients as soon as possible," said Zhu.

CreatiPhage Biotech's chief scientist, Wu Nannan, explained: "This pore plate with 96 pores has in each of the pores one kind of phage in cultivation. Then we introduce them one by one upon the target bacteria for matching. If the match goes well, the phage will dine on the bacteria and consume it till it shows multiple honeycomb spots. Then we use this numbered phage for treatment for a patient."

In the phage "family," each type of phage is matched only for one type of bacteria. The current medical technology applies phage to cure patients with "super bacteria," which medical professionals have been at their wit's end in trying to combat using antibiotics.

However, the targeted matching procedure is time consuming.

According to latest statistics from CreatiPhage, their 149 patients who resorted to phage treatment have had 50 percent of their bacteria volume removed and 78 percent of their syndromes improved.

"If we make a specific type of phage into a medicine, then the treatment efficiency would be greatly improved," said Wu.

Phage treatment is gaining more recognition internationally in recent years. Some domestic companies, including CreatiPhage Biotech, are competitive globally.

However, as treatment standards and production measures of phage differ enormously from traditional medicines, phage hasn't been included in China's pharmaceutical raw materials catalogue yet, a barrier to its potential as a treatment.

"The most advanced antibiotics treatment for super bacteria is very expensive, while the phage treatment is likely to offer an affordable fee. We hope some green channels for approval for phage treatment will come out soon, so that patients will benefit from it," said Zhu.