Vésale Bioscience, a company in the research and development of solutions and treatments using phage therapy for multi-resistant infections, has received €1.8 million in grants from the European Innovation Council (EIC) Accelerator Fund for its PhageDiag project.
The project is a phagogram using artificial intelligence (AI) that enables decentralised diagnostics and personalised treatment. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is one of the top ten global public health threats facing humanity.
PhageDiag is a fast and user-friendly diagnostic technology, or phagogram, for personalised phage therapy. It is said to be the first automated in vitrodiagnostic tool that enables a quick determination of suitable bacteriophages for treating a particular bacterial infection.
“Personalised phage therapy using magistral preparations of phages is among the most promising solutions to fight antimicrobial resistant infections. This approach requires a rapid diagnostic test to identify the pathogens involved in the infection and choose the phages that would be active on them,” said Dr Johan Quintens, Chief Scientific Officer at Vésale Bioscience. “Unlike current diagnostic methods, which take up to four to seven days, the PhageDiag phagogram compares the activity of up to 96 phages on a bacterial culture within two to three hours, making phage susceptibility testing accessible for hospital microbiology labs and enabling personalized therapy on a routine basis.”
