Pherecydes Pharma, a biotechnology company specializing in precision phage therapy to treat resistant and/or complicated bacterial infections, announces the first international approval of a compassionate treatment with its phages, in Sweden.
The Swedish Medical Products Agency (SMPA) has given its approval to treat a case of osteoarticular infection of a prosthetic joint with Pherecydes Pharma’s anti-S. aureus phages. The treatment should be administered to the patient at Uppsala hospital in the coming days.
With the compassionate treatments continuing to be provided in France, Pherecydes Pharma is thus taking the number of patients treated to date to beyond 50.
Guy-Charles Fanneau de La Horie, Chairman of the Executive Board of Pherecydes Pharma, stated:
“This first international approval for compassionate use with our phages is a major step for Pherecydes Pharma’s development. Firstly, it is further proof of the growing global awareness of the health emergency caused by resistant bacterial infections. Indeed, countries’ health organizations are closely monitoring this global health issue and are particularly receptive to innovations that provide a therapeutic response. This approval from the SMPA is also recognition of our phages’ pharmaceutical quality, one of the criteria scrupulously followed by all health agencies. This decision also confirms that Pherecydes Pharma enjoys a growing international reputation and underscores our strategic approach focusing on compassionate treatment as the first step in positioning our phages prior to their European marketing authorization”.
About Pherecydes Pharma
Founded in 2006, Pherecydes Pharma is a biotechnology company that develops treatments against resistant bacterial infections, responsible for many serious infections. The Company has developed an innovative approach, precision phage therapy, based on the use of phages, natural bacteria-killing viruses. Pherecydes Pharma is developing a portfolio of phages targeting 3 of the most resistant and dangerous bacteria, which alone account for more than two thirds of hospital-acquired resistant infections: Staphylococcus aureus, Escherichia coli and Pseudomonas aeruginosa. The concept of precision phage therapy has been successfully applied in several dozen patients in the context of compassionate use, under the supervision of the French National Agency for the Safety of Medicines (ANSM). Headquartered in Nantes, Pherecydes Pharma has a team of around twenty experts from the pharmaceutical industry, biotechnology sector and academic research.