Property2 |
Comment |
Bactericidal |
Reduced potential for bacterial development of resistance |
Auto “dosing” |
In situ activity increases numbers (though only given favorable bacterial densities) |
Low inherent toxicity |
Virions consist of only proteins and DNA |
Low normal flora impact |
Low likelihood potential for superinfection by endogenous flora, e.g., C. difficile |
Narrow resistance evolution |
Selection for resistance limited mostly to within populations of targeted bacteria |
Lack of cross-resistance |
Antibiotic-resistant bacteria tend to retain phage sensitivity |
Rapid discovery process |
Phages with large therapeutic windows are often easy to isolate |
Potential for modification |
Phages can be easy to molecular characterize and manipulate |
Use with other agents |
Versatility in formulation development and combination with other drugs |
Dosing versatility |
Phage formuations can take many forms and can be delivered via many routes |
Biofilm clearance |
Certain phages, unlike most chemical antibiotics, can be relatively good at this |
Favorable pharmacokinetics |
Delivery to targets or persistence in situ often is either good or improvable |
Single-dose potential |
Can provide dosing convenience; auto dosing consequence |
Low-dosage potential |
Of possible economic or safety utility; auto dosing consequence |
Single-hit killing kinetics |
Nonetheless effectively multi-hit since phages still multiply adsorb bacteria |
Engineered lower toxicity |
Particularly elimination of bacterial lysis, but auto dosing advantage is thus lost |
Low environment impact |
Narrow specture of anti-bacterial activity, lability, low inherent toxicity |
Not antibiotics |
Fewer societal concerns with use, such as in agriculture; avoids antibiotic allergies |
Natural products |
Potential appeal to natural medicinals market |
Relatively low cost |
As drugs, reasonable production costs |
Public perception |
Public perception of use of phages as antibacterials seemingly is positive |
