Select Committee · Science, Innovation and Technology Committee

The antimicrobial potential of bacteriophages

Status: Closed Opened: 9 Nov 2022 Closed: 28 May 2024 23 recommendations 10 conclusions 1 report

This inquiry is informed by the successful pitch to the Committee’s My Science inquiry. The World Health Organisation has warned that antibiotic resistance (AMR) is one of the biggest threats to global health, food security, and development today, while the Government’s Special Envoy on Antimicrobial Resistance, Dame Sally Davies, has called AMR the ‘silent pandemic’. …

Clear

Reports

1 report
Title HC No. Published Items Response
First Report - The antimicrobial potential of bacteriophages HC 328 3 Jan 2024 33 Responded

Recommendations & Conclusions

1 item
24 Conclusion First Report - The antimicrobial potent… Accepted in Part

Good Manufacturing Practice requirements create impasse for UK phage development

One of the major obstacles to phage clinical trials in the UK has been the requirement for GMP phages. However, regulators require that for phages to achieve GMP standards they must themselves have first been subject to clinical trials. This impasse is stalling the development of phages in the UK. …

Government response. The government states that MHRA's draft non-binding advisory guidance will define standards for licensed phages and clarifies that phages for named-patient use require GMP standards but not clinical trials or marketing authorization, thus providing clarity on the described conundrum.
Department for Science, Innovation and Technology

Oral evidence sessions

3 sessions
Date Witnesses
26 Apr 2023 Dr Jonathan Pearce · Medical Research Council, Dr Marc Bailey · Medicines and Healthcare products Regulatory Agency, Dr Morwenna Carrington · Department for Health and Social Care, Dr Tim Jinks · Wellcome Trust, Professor Isabel Oliver · UK Health Security Agency, Professor Mark Sutton · UK Centre for Ecology and Hydrology, Richard Hebdon · Innovate UK View ↗
15 Mar 2023 Dr Hans Petter Kleppen · ACD Pharma, Dr Jean-Paul Pirnay · Queen Astrid Military Hospital, Brussels, Dr Mzia Kutateladze · George Eliava Institute of Bacteriophage, Microbiology and Virology, Greg Merril · Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Naomi Zak · BiomX, Professor Jon Iredell · The Westmead Institute for Medical Research, Professor Robert Schooley · UC San Diego School of Medicine View ↗
8 Feb 2023 Dr James Soothill · Great Ormond Street Hospital Laboratory Medicine, Dr Josh Jones · NHS Tayside, Mr David Browning · Fixed Phage LTD, Ms Stephanie Lesage · Oxford Silk Phage Technologies Ltd, Professor Cath Rees · University of Nottingham, Professor Joanne M. Santini · University College London, Professor Martha Clokie · University of Leicester View ↗