AmpliPhi Granted European Patent for Bacteriophage Therapy to Fight Biofilm-related Bacterial Infections

AmpliPhi BioSciences Corporation has announced that the European Patent Office (EPO) has granted European patent no. EP 2570130, “Bacteriophage-containing Therapeutic Agents”. Three related patents have been issued in the US (US Patent Nos. 7,807,149; 8,105,579; and 8,388,946), the earliest of which was previously granted in 2010.

The claims of the European patent cover various bacteriophage preparations for use in combination with antibiotics for the treatment of biofilm-related infections caused by the bacterium Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The patent claims protect the company’s proprietary methods of bacteriophage-based treatment of bacterial infection characterized by biofilms where P. aeruginosa is present, covering the application of one or more bacteriophage preparations which target and kill P. aeruginosa in the biofilm, followed by antibiotic treatment once bacteriophage replication is established. Examples of specific treatment regimens covered include the treatment of human and animal infections resulting from a skin burn or skin wound, lung infections such as hospital acquired pneumonia (HAP) and cystic fibrosis (CF), urinary tract infection (UTI) or an infection associated with a medical device or implant. Such infections are difficult to treat as they are often resistant to antibiotic therapy.

AmpliPhi is currently developing AmpliPhage-001, a proprietary mixture of bacteriophage targeting P. aeruginosa infections in patients with CF. In collaboration with the Royal Brompton NHS Hospital London, AmpliPhage-001 is expected to enter clinical studies next year.

Jeremy Curnock Cook, CEO and Chairman of Ampliphi said: “Preliminary indications from experiments have indicated that treatment with our bacteriophage preparations before antibiotics are administered may be able to restore the effectiveness of antibiotics that were previously ineffective.” He continued: “Such a treatment regime, if confirmed, could be extremely important in the battle to address the rise of antibiotic resistance and, in particular to treat infections present in biofilms which are often refractory to existing treatments.”