Describe the differences between Intralytics and GangaGen. Can you locate their “best selling products”? What are the main struggles these companies have to deal with? Look at their current web page. What changes have taken place since the writing of The Forgotten Cure?
Although both of these companies deal with locating phages and creating remedies, the approach, purpose, and usage of the phages are on opposite sides of the spectrum. The greatest difference between the two companies is the location in which they were founded: the United States and India. This demonstrates that despite the large distance between centers or institutions, the building of knowledge within science is not an individual activity but rather a massive group project that requires the participation of many scientists all around the world. Along with location, the circumstances led Intralytix to stop the projects concerning human-resisting bacteriophages and to lean more towards phages resistant to contaminating-bacteria found in meat, poultry, fruits, and vegetables as these were suggestions made by the FDA. This led to the creation of a phage cocktail that is resistant to listeria monocytogenes. GangaGen, on the other hand, remained on their goal to find human bacteria-resistant phages which they did and produced StaphTame which became their “best-selling” product.
Intralytix struggled with a lack of funds and long-term partners as there were many cases in which this occurred. Intralytix were also losing their collaborations with other institutions thereby making it difficult for them to find revenue to fund the projects. In the spring of 2002, Intralytix began the process of gaining approval from the FDA to launch trials of phage therapy against VRE. In this process, they had help from their team of experts along with Marissa Miller, a program officer of the NIH’s National Institute for Allergies and Infectious Diseases. After some time, Sulakvelidze got a call from the FDA to set a conference call to report their decision. During the conference, the experts working with the FDA asked numerous questions to lay their confusion to rest. One of their main concerns was of lytic phages and that it may be used in the final products of Intralytix. Along with this, the government also recommended that Intralytix moves to another model which would more closely resemble the patients that would be candidates for phage therapy usage. Sulakvelidze took all their points and recommendations into consideration when writing another report for the FDA following the meeting. After the company was denied a much-needed grant, they decided to turn their focus away from human use and towards phages in agriculture, meat, and poultry. They received bad news such as their main partner, Ecolab, dropped out, they remained hopeful as they received news that a British company was interested in their product. However, they soon let go of the deal was they claimed that the economy was bad which led to other companies dropping their deals with Intralytix. GangaGen did not face as many struggles; however, they did face the problem of lack of funding along with an inability to receive timely approval from the FDA.
When Forgotten Cure was written, Intralytix were focused on creating phage resistant sprays and cocktails aimed to destroy bacteria that were found to contaminate meats and poultry. Now, on the company’s website, Intralytix announced its recent collaboration with Ferring Pharmaceuticals to design bacteriophages that treat inflammatory bowel diseases. The company’s products shifted from solely producing agricultural products to also include projects involving human pathogens. Also, on February 8 of this year, Intralytix announced that their study concerning bacteriophage targets within patients with Crohn’s diseases has entered a Phase 1/2a stage of clinical trials. GangaGen, on the other hand, remained on their focus of creating bacteriophages for human pathogens. Based on the publications posted on their website, the company began looking at looking and testing other factors that can affect endolysin efficiency within Staphylococcus aureus.