Exploring perceptions of bacteriophage use in the UK across the One Health spectrum: a roundtable discussion

10am – 12pm BST - 4 July 2024

In 2022, Applied Microbiology International (AMI) won the UK Government’s My Science Inquiry pitch where we highlighted bacteriophage as an alternative to antimicrobials, resulting in the inquiry launched by the House of Commons Science, Innovation & Technology Committee last year. A report on this inquiry was published by the Committee in January 2024 and the government published a response to the report in March 2024.

Due to the increasing interest in the potential of bacteriophage, AMI hosted a closed roundtable discussion, inviting bacteriophage experts across the One Health spectrum and all stages of the phage development pipeline to discuss some of the major barriers to phage therapy implementation within the UK.

A policy-in-practice paper (and accompanying Executive Summary) was subsequently produced summarising the key take-home messages that emerged from the discussions. Overall, the lack of investment, national infrastructure and public awareness regarding phage therapy, its development and its potential, were agreed upon as the key barriers that need to be overcome to more widely implement phage therapy across the UK. Continuation of the Phage Innovation Network was repeatedly recognized as an essential requisite for overcoming these barriers and for ensuring the progress of phage innovation. The aim of this paper is to provide a progressive step for phage therapy, continuing momentum to facilitate their widespread implementation nationally. Keep an eye on this page to see our developments with this project.