Forgotten Cure 3
One of the biggest problems in phage therapy has been in the approval process. Describe the trouble surrounding FDA approval and recommend some suggestions to improve the process of phage therapy approval.
To begin, it appears that any process that appears in front of the FDA must be simplified before doing so. For example, Intralytix’s phage cocktail wasn’t projected to make it through simply because it had multiple ingredients. Instead, they focused on a small market topical treatment, which would open up a corridor for more development within the field that would be expanded. In general, it is very difficult to make it through FDA approval due to the thoroughness it requires to be approved. Not only do research and results have to be thorough, but funding and personnel have to be thorough as well. If a company doesn’t have the necessary expertise or funds to complete an experiment to the extent at which the FDA requires, the company stands very little chance of passing through. However, pertaining specifically to phage therapy, the field is underserved. As we have learned, the attention given to phage research has dropped off again, and although it is beginning to pick back up it still hasn’t blossomed to its full potential. As a result, not as many people have done research on phages, nor has a significant amount of funding been directed towards discovering a way to effectively incorporate phage therapy into modern medicine. Perhaps making the public and the FDA more aware of the process and efficiency of phage therapy, would our country then more readily accept this changing form of medical treatment.
I agree with your point that increasing the awareness for phage therapy and the science involved would make the public more receptive to its potential and help the field expand. Most people don’t even know what a bacteriophage is. making them aware and decreasing misconceptions would go a long way in streamlining the process for approval.
It definitely is quite a hassle trying to get medications cleared through the hoops that the FDA place before a drug can hit the market. However, they are definitely quite beneficial, as they can prevent bad science from leading to otherwise preventable deaths. It makes sense that the multiple ingredients rule is in place, as you can’t reasonably pinpoint the cause of your findings when you have multiple independent variables changing at once. Knowledge definitely is power when it comes to medicine. Having the public more aware of the benefits of phage therapy can make it a lot easier for FDA approval to come to phage therapy. Most people will attribute viruses to causing illness and won’t really want to ingest something that contains a virus. However, if the public is more informed then it might be easier to get more testing done with phage therapy.