CreatiPhage & Jiayi Medical jointly established the Phage Clinical Translation Signing Ceremony and the Phage Clinical Technology Center Inauguration.

Date：2023-02-15

The study and clinical application of phages have a history of over a century, contributing not only revolutionary biotechnological tools such as T4 ligase and the CRISPR system but also advancing the fields of molecular biology, genetics, and synthetic biology. Shanghai is the birthplace of phage therapy in China and one of the largest regional phage therapy centers in the world today.

On June 29, 2022, the "CreatiPhage & Jiayi Medical" Phage Clinical Technology Strategic Cooperation Signing Ceremony and the "Phage Clinical Technology Center" plaque unveiling took place at Shanghai Jiayi International Hospital.

On the day of the event, experts in the field of phage clinical applications, including Professor Zhu Tongyu, founder of the Shanghai Phage and Antibiotic Resistance Research Institute and Vice Dean of Fudan University Shanghai Medical College, Professor Guo Xiaoku, Deputy Director of the National Tropical Disease Research Center at Shanghai Jiao Tong University, Professor Hu Bijie, Director of the Infectious Diseases Department and Hospital Infection Management Department at Zhongshan Hospital affiliated with Fudan University, Professor Li Xiaoyu, Director of the Pharmacy Department at the same hospital, Professor Li Wenwei, Director of the Neurology Department and Emergency Department at Shanghai Public Health Clinical Center, Professor Bao Juan, Director of the Urology Department and Superbug Treatment Department, and Professor Qin Jinhong from Shanghai Medical College, participated in the signing ceremony. Dr. Wu Nannan, Chief Scientist of CreatiPhage, Wang Jianli, Executive Director of Chaofan Medical Enterprise Group, and representatives from medical enterprises such as Fenglin Medical Innovation, were also in attendance. Xiang Naiqiang, Chief Medical Officer of Jiayi Medical and Medical Director of Shanghai Jiayi International Hospital, delivered a speech at the site. Over 60 representatives from both sides, including Dr. John Hsiang, Dr. Johnny Mei, Dr. Hautek Koh, Dr. David Krason, Director Li Jun, Director Shen Ce, Director Zhu Bin, Li Jun (ICU), Shi Weiming, Wang Siyao, Hou Qi, Wu Jiong, Fan Qiwen, Zhao Yanwei, Bian Yanyan, Gu Chenli, Xia Wen, Gao Fengyan, and Paula Nemay from the NEJM editorial team, attended the signing ceremony together.

Phages, or bacteriophages, are viruses that infect bacteria. They have a simple structure and must parasitize living bacteria, being nearly ubiquitous in every corner of the world. Through mechanisms such as lysis, lysogeny, and horizontal gene transfer, phages can influence the life cycle and evolution of their bacterial hosts, playing a significant ecological role. Due to their characteristic of not infecting eukaryotic cells, and the specificity of phages in killing bacteria which ensures minimal impact on normal flora, they possess considerable safety. Phage therapy is not constrained by bacterial resistance and offers a disruptive effect on drug-resistant bacteria. Moreover, phages can self-replicate while preying on bacteria, making them the perfect predators.

The earliest phage therapy in China can be traced back to the 1950s. In 1958, Professor Yu Jie from the Shanghai Institute of Immunology conducted the first phage therapy case in China, successfully treating "Iron Hero" Qiu Caikang, who had a Pseudomonas aeruginosa infection after suffering extensive burns. Sixty years later, the teams of Zhu Tongyu and Guo Xiaoku completed the second successful phage therapy case in China. In March 2020, the team of Zhu Tongyu and Wu Nannan initiated a clinical trial for phage therapy of secondary drug-resistant bacterial infections in COVID-19 patients. In 2021, they published the first global clinical trial results in the journal Emerging Microbes & Infections and were invited to publish a related review in Current Opinion in Virology. In September 2020, the U.S. FDA approved a clinical trial for phage therapy to treat bacterial infections in COVID-19 patients by Adaptive Phage Therapeutics. This reflects the broad clinical demand for personalized phage therapy. Additionally, phages are also applied in various clinical scenarios, including bacterial typing, hospital infection tracking, and prevention and control.

The collaboration between CreatiPhage and Jiayi Medical marks the first entry of phage clinical research into the non-public medical system. "Since its inception, Shanghai Jiayi International Hospital has been committed to creating an integrated 'medical-education-research' comprehensive medical ecosystem. Currently, the hospital's clinical trial institution has research projects covering various fields such as oncology, imaging, and cardiology, exploring more innovative therapies for patients. We feel very honored to be able to work with clinical and scientific experts from top professional institutions in the country to promote the translation of research into clinical practice, bringing more advanced technology and more efficient treatment plans," shared Xiang Naiqiang, Chief Medical Officer of Jiayi Medical and Medical Director of Shanghai Jiayi International Hospital.

         Professor Zhu Tongyu said, "Phages are precision antibacterial weapons. In our nearly five years of clinical practice involving nearly a hundred cases, we have personally experienced the safety and effectiveness of phage therapy and are confident in its prospects. I am very pleased to witness the collaboration between China's most promising phage R&D team and one of China's most promising high-end private hospitals. I look forward to further promoting the clinical translation and application of phage therapy to benefit more patients threatened by drug-resistant bacteria."

       CreatiPhage, after five years of technological research and clinical experiments, has completed nearly a hundred clinical cases, covering various types of infections (with overlaps in multifocal infections) and target bacterial species (with overlaps in multiple infections). The clinical results have demonstrated good therapeutic effects.

         In actual clinical case treatments, the team published the first SCI paper on phage therapy and the world's first paper on phage therapy for COVID-19 co-infections.

        Over the past five years, the CreatiPhage team has achieved academic accomplishments recognized by the National Natural Science Foundation and published the country's first professional book on phage,

 "Phage Science."

        In the future, both parties will further conduct technological research in areas such as personalized phage therapy technology and rapid screening technology for lytic phages, committed to advancing the 

development of phage therapy nationwide and globally, so that this technology can benefit more patients.

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