4 ms·
Is the implication here that antibiotics are more commercially viable, but phages are the real solution? I'm unfamiliar with phages, but a quick lookup revealed
by efields 4y ago
Is the implication here that antibiotics are more commercially viable, but phages are the real solution? I'm unfamiliar with phages, but a quick lookup revealed "virus that eats bacteria" and it's like, yeah… let's do that to combat bacterial infections. I'm guessing alignment between phage/bacteria is crucial.
- stackbutterflow 4y agoSomeone can correct me if I'm wrong but what I got was that there's nothing to patent because phages are found in sewers and mud pools as is. Also every individual with a bacterial infection needs a custom cocktail so there's no one-size-fits-all pill that can be mass produced. Phages also have their own caveats but I don't remember what it is. The TLDR is that in the worst case scenario we still have phages and as far as I understand no bacteria can adapt to phages. But we need to figure out a way to make it commercially viable as you put it.
- bee_rider 4y agoAs someone who knows nothing about biology, this as well as the limited shelf-life issue mentioned in other comments makes me wonder if something like “A collection of less specialized phages and a process by which they can be quickly programmed to go after a bacteria” could be patented. I’m sure this is dumb because if it wasn’t somebody would have done it by now, though.