HOW TO ACCESS PHAGIC THERAPY

AIMS AND BACTERIOPHAGES

On the basis of a scientific collaboration agreement with the EPTC (Eliava Phage Therapy Center), AIMS is responsible for promoting the use of bacteriophages on patients suffering from infectious diseases who do not respond to antibiotic treatments and for which reasonable alternatives are not available. therapeutic. In the absence of approval by the European regulatory agencies of the drug, the therapy can be administered to patients who need it, based on the criteria defined in the Declaration of Helsinki.

The doctors of AIMS evaluate, together with their colleagues at the EPTC, the candidates' applicability for therapy with bacteriophages on the basis of clinical and microbiological findings. They coordinate the treatment with the doctors treating the patients, to whom they do not replace but integrate themselves so that patients can continue their conventional treatments (in particular antibiotic therapy), with which bacteriophages do not interfere, but rather, in many cases, determine an increased susceptibility of the infection to drug treatment. They follow the patients in their therapeutic path making sure that they follow the current guidelines in the treatment of their specific pathology.

The EPTC (Clinical Center for Phage Therapy of the Eliava Institute)

The Eliava Institute was founded in 1923 by the Georgian microbiologist George Eliava and the French-Canadian scientist Félix d'Herelle. The friendship and scientific interest that united these two people was the indispensable glue to devote themselves to the development of a new Institute of Microbiology, which the two researchers aspired to transform into the World Center for Research on Bacteriophages. In fact, during the period of the former Soviet Union, one of the most important collections of bacteria and bacteriophages was collected at the Eliava Institute. In its scientific laboratories, numerous and effective preparations based on bacteriophages have been made, produced for trade by production units present within the Institute itself. The products of what is still today the Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology and Virology (IBMV) have been used for the prophylaxis and treatment of human infectious diseases throughout the former Soviet Union, both in the public health network and by the armed forces. The Institute has survived a series of serious challenges and difficulties following the breakup of the USSR in 1991, but has always maintained its specificity on the research and clinical applications of bacteriophages.

The Eliava Clinical Center for Phage Therapy (EPTC) is affiliated with the Eliava IBMV and is one of the few centers of this type in the world dedicated to phage therapy. EPTC has specialists in the fields of Internal Medicine, Pediatrics, Urology, Gynecology, Dermatology and Surgery who lend their work using therapeutic strategies that integrate the conventional approach with the peculiar characteristics of bacteriophages for the treatment of complex cases that they recognize as an etiological moment and pathogenetic a bacterial infection.

Information on the Eliava phage therapy center

After their discovery in the 1940s, antibiotics have supplanted bacteriophage therapy in the healthcare community's war on bacterial infections. However, an increasing number of bacteria have become increasingly resistant to antibiotics, creating one of the most significant global health threats. Today, patients visit EPTC from around the world to fight their antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections with Eliava's therapeutic bacteriophages. Phage preparations for prophylactic and therapeutic use are prepared by selecting bacteriophages that target a wide range of pathogenic bacteria. The selection of which phage or phage cocktail to use on a patient is decided after carrying out bacteriological analysis on the patient's clinical samples, based on clinical experience dating back 100 years.

Therefore, bacteriophage therapy is the use of "good" viruses (antibacterial viruses) to treat infections with antibiotic-resistant germs or chronic infections in which antibiotics are unable to eradicate the pathogen. The bacteriophage, or antibacterial virus, acts directly and exclusively on the target bacteria to destroy them through a process called "lysis", leaving the human cells intact. The specific bacteriophage looks for the host bacteria on which it is active, attaching itself to the outside of the bacterial cell wall and injecting its DNA inside the bacterium. This phage DNA disrupts the cell's reproductive mechanism, which is reprogrammed to produce bacteriophage particles. During this active process of infection and after the phage has sufficiently multiplied and assembled the phage progeny inside the cell, the enzymes are released by the phages which "lyse" the outer wall of the bacteria, killing the bacteria and releasing new bacteriophages. in the environment to find and attack other bacteria of that type. Since phages multiply exponentially, a bacterial infection can be eradicated in a very short space of time.

Phage therapy is an alternative or synergistic treatment to antibiotic therapy for treating bacterial infections in cases where an infection is chronic or where antibiotics have not worked. It can be a tool of last resort for multidrug infections. Particularly in the case of MRSA, ESBL and CRE and VRE bacteria, the superbugs responsible for the frightening reality of today's world. Phage can affect antibiotic-resistant infections, but it can also prove beneficial in treating infections that cannot be effectively treated with antibiotics due to poor tissue perfusion or the presence of bacterial biofilms. This is due to their different pharmacokinetics (the ability to be conveyed within wounds and in the body). Phages are also a useful solution for treating infections in people with antibiotic allergies and protect bacterial ecology in the gut (microbiome) due to their specificity. Broad-spectrum antibiotics, on the other hand, destroy many good bacteria in the digestive tract.

THE THERAPEUTIC PATH AT EPTC

Each clinical case, in particular when it comes to chronic infections in patients who have undergone numerous treatments and / or interventions, has its own peculiarities, and therefore the treatment plan will be established from time to time. Basically, there are 2 treatment options:

The first involves the patient going directly to Tbilisi to receive treatment directly from the local team.

The second is to be followed at a distance by the EPTC doctors with the support of the AIMS doctors, taking the drugs at home.

The choice of the best path must be discussed with the patient from time to time, based on the clinical and logistical needs, and last but not least the economic possibilities.

In any case, the treatment path at EPTC follows a general line, which takes about 10 working days in which:

DAY 1 - 2

• Diagnostic investigations (If out of the clinic you will be accompanied by the personal clinic)

• Medical and specialist consultations, if necessary: ​​internal medicine, surgery, dermatology, endocrinology, gynecology, infectious disease, pulmonology, neurology, etc.
• Support services: therapeutic massage, physiotherapy, IV fluids
Not included in the package (and if needed)
• Custom phages preparation (if standard phages are not sensitive) for bacterial strain
• Hospital surgery (if necessary and approved by the patient)
• Emergency Department
• Hospitalizations
• Translation services (other than English, which is included)

THE FIRST WEEK

• Results from bacterial cultures, modification of treatment if necessary
• Repeat bacteriological analysis to monitor progress (reduction of infection)
• Continuous phage procedures (eg urology, gynecology, otolaryngology, inhalations)

PHAYES TO TAKE HOME (HOME TRAPY)

• Home therapy will be provided to complete the first course of treatment and to repeat a further course of treatment.

FURTHER INFORMATION:
Upon request, the Eliava Phage Therapy Center can refer you to logistics companies that support the patient. They can assist you in organizing your trip to Georgia, finding affordable accommodation, translation services and transportation from and to the airport.

AFTER RETURNING HOME
After returning home you will be followed by AIMS doctors, who are always in direct contact with the EPTC specialists.