Phage Therapy ( alternative of antibiotics) for MAC lung infection

Hi, Liliana, yes I asked Poland and they don't treat MAC. I sent my request to Belgium with all my reports, and they did not clearly told me whether they treat MAC or not, but scheduled a consultation. I do see UZ Leuven took lung infection patient like fibrosis and bronchitis on the "eligibility" section. I think I can figure it out during the consultation.

Talk to you later,

Best,

Helen

Let me know if you can find any place for NTM phage therapy.:)

They should long have approved phage therapy in the US. History demonstrates phage therapy started in 1931 in the US but then came antibiotics later and they stopped with the phages because antibiotics came on the scene and became a better money maker for pharma. Another excuse was phages could be used for biological war fare. I studied microbiology in college and learned the extensive benefits of phase therapy. I questioned why that type of treatment was not pursued but I never got a straight answer. I have MAC disease and been searching to find phage therapy but so far a dead end.

Hello Sue: I am new to this community and so glad I found this group. I been searching for several years to find phage therapy. I . have MAC and bronchiectasis. Since my diagnosis in 2020 I have not found any clinic or doctor in Tucson Arizona that would treat or at least refer me to a place for treatment. The I found the Mayo clinic. I am not giving up to find a cure from MAC and stabilize my bronchiectasis.
Heidemarie

@heidemarie1 NYU Is doing phage therapy, but no successful case so far. I think I also see some invention of new antibiotics . Let's cross the fingers!

So far most of the indications are the use of Phage along with antibiotics. They make the antibiotic more effective and able to penetrate. The hope would be using them alone but so far I do not think there is much to back that up.

Phages are specific to a bacteria. Each type of bacteria needs a different phage. As far as I know, the only NTM that they have found a phage for is abscesses. They also have found phage for pseudomonas aeruginosa. I, too, hope we can all benefit from phage therapy one day, without accompanying antibiotics. UC San Diego was doing phage treatment a few years ago. Not sure if that program is still going on, but you can certainly read their website. https://idgph.ucsd.edu/research/center-innovative-phage-applications-and-therapeutics/index.html. In my opinion the pharmaceutical industry doesn’t want phages to be available. Here’s a fascinating BBC video. https://youtu.be/bmKMIP91lTE

NYU is recruiting for a new phage study.
https://www.centerwatch.com/clinical-trials/listings/NCT07076238/biomarker-investigation-of-response-to-bacteriophage-treatment-for-bacterial-infection/biomarkers-of-phage-treatment-response-in-ntm-and-other-infections

Dr Daly from NJH spoke of treating a patient with CF that needed a double lung transplant. The patient had M. Abscessus and he was not responding to antibiotics, and they would not do the transplant until the MABC was irradicated. I'm thinking this was at NJH, but maybe it was just NJH was involved? The phage treatment did work. He may have mentioned it at the 2025 BE-NTM Patient Conference or it was another presentation that was in a private home-sorry, I don't have the link. If I find, I will post.

@kathyjjb
I think I remember him saying the Phage allowed the antibiotics to penetrate and work. So in other words both were used and it was a success.