Adaptive Phage Therapeutics Announces Licensing Agreement with the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research

- License to expanding phage library compiled at the Walter Reed Army Institute of Research -

- Adaptive Phage Therapeutics is now engaged with two branches of the U.S. Military -

GAITHERSBURG, Md.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT), a clinical-stage biotechnology company dedicated to providing therapies to treat infectious diseases, today announced that it has entered into a licensing agreement with The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research (WRAIR) to provide APT access to the Institute’s extensive phage database. The agreement with the United States Army is synergistic with APT’s ongoing partnership with the United States Navy, providing the company with access to the pre-eminent phage database of the United States military to treat critically ill patients.

WRAIR provides unique research capabilities and innovative medical solutions to a range of Force Health Protection and Readiness challenges facing U.S. Service Members. WRAIR has developed a model of vaccine and therapeutic development to treat continually evolving diseases that pose threats of military importance in times of peace and war. The licensing agreement announced today will provide APT the opportunity to cooperate with the U.S. Army’s laboratory resources and research experts at WRAIR to strengthen the ongoing development of the company’s PhageBank™ phage library. The licensing agreement further expands APT’s relationship with the Department of Defense and affirms the company’s commitment to providing AMR treatment options for warfighters and veterans.

The phage collection at WRAIR represents a multi-year research and development effort that represents a diverse and ever-growing phage collection. It also includes a curated collection of phages that has greater than 85% activity against over 100 multi-drug resistant Pseudomonas aeruginosa clinical isolates. These clinical isolates are representative of the global diversity of this pathogen, across respiratory, wound, blood and tissue infections. In a collaborative effort between WRAIR, APT, and other partners, a subset of these phages are also being advanced into clinical trials in CF patients with P. aeruginosa infections. “We are delighted to secure the support of The Walter Reed Army Institute of Research in developing our PhageBank™ technology, to treat constantly evolving bacterial diseases that often become drug resistant,” said Greg Merril, APT’s CEO and co-founder. “Now backed with partnerships with two branches of the U.S. Armed Forces, we remain steadfast in our belief that phage therapeutics are the future for treating multi-drug resistant bacterial pathogens and further believe that agreements such as today’s strengthen our ability to treat the millions of patients who are threatened by these fast mutating, drug resistant pathogens.”

“The PhageBank™ platform that Greg and his team at APT are building is helping realize the long-held hope for phage-based therapeutics in treating both civilians and U.S. Service Members facing multi-drug resistant bacterial pathogens,” said Lieutenant Colonel Brett Swierczewski, Director of Bacterial Diseases at WRAIR. “We look forward to collaborating with the APT team as they progress PhageBank™ into and through clinical trials.”

Adaptive Phage Therapeutics, Inc.

Adaptive Phage Therapeutics (APT) is a clinical-stage company advancing therapies to treat multi-drug resistant infections. Prior antimicrobial therapeutic approaches have been "fixed,” while pathogens continue to evolve resistance to each of those therapeutics, causing those drug products to become rapidly less effective in commercial use as antimicrobial resistance (AMR) increases over time.

APT’s PhageBank™ approach leverages an ever-expanding library of bacteriophage (phage) that collectively provide evergreen broad spectrum and polymicrobial coverage. PhageBank™ phages are matched through a proprietary phage susceptibility assay that APT has teamed with Mayo Clinic Laboratories to commercialize on a global scale.

APT’s technology was originally developed by the biodefense program of U.S. Department of Defense. APT acquired the world-wide exclusive commercial rights in 2017. Under FDA emergency Investigational New Drug allowance, APT has provided investigational PhageBank™ therapy to treat more than 40 critically ill patients in which standard-of-care antibiotics had failed.

For more information, visit http://www.aphage.com.