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Phage offer a real alternative

Nature Biotechnology volume 22, pages 505–506 (2004)Cite this article

To the editor:

A News and Views piece by Steven Projan in your February issue offers a gratuitous, pessimistic assessment for the prospects of phage therapy per se (Nat. Biotechnol. 22, 167–168, 2004). We believe Projan's criticisms are overly broad and fail to consider the published literature and the impact that contemporary phage biology is having on the development of phage therapeutics. We would not have been moved to respond to his comments were it not for our view that the pharmaceutical industry's capacity to develop truly novel chemical antibiotics or antibacterials is being outstripped through the evolution of antimicrobial resistance by a broad array of infectious agents. Thus, in the spirit of a constructive dialogue, we—participants at a Cold Spring Harbor Banbury Conference1—offer the following rejoinder.

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References

  1. Phage Therapy: Potential and Challenges. Cold Spring Harbor Banbury Conference, Cold Spring Harbor, November 13–15, 2002.

  2. Smith, H.W. & Huggins, M.B. J. Gen. Microbiol. 128, 307–318 (1982).

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  3. Lui, M. et al. Science 295, 2091–2094 (2002).

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Acknowledgements

G.K.S is chairman of the scientific advisory board of Gangagen (Palo Alto, CA, USA), a startup company that is developing phage therapeutics.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. Stanford Medical School, Beckman Center, Room 241, Stanford, 94305, California, USA

    Gary K Schoolnik

  2. Yale University School of Medicine, Biophysics and Biochemistry, 333 Cedar Street, New Haven, 06520, Connecticut, USA

    William C Summers

  3. Cold Spring Harbor Laboratory, 1 Bungtown Rd., Cold Spring Harbor, 11724, New York, USA

    James D Watson

Authors
  1. Gary K Schoolnik
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  2. William C Summers
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  3. James D Watson
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Competing interests

G.K.S has stock options and J.D.W. has purchased stock in Gangagen.

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Schoolnik, G., Summers, W. & Watson, J. Phage offer a real alternative. Nat Biotechnol 22, 505–506 (2004). https://doi.org/10.1038/nbt0504-505

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