The compassionate use of bacteriophages for failed persistent infections during the first five years of the Israeli Phage Therapy Center (IPTC)

The use of bacteriophages (phages) is re-emerging as a potential treatment option for antibiotic-resistant or non-resolving bacterial infections. Phages are bacteria specific viruses that may serve as a personalized therapeutic option with minimal collateral damage to the patient or its microbiome. In 2018 we established the Israeli Phage Therapy Center (IPTC) as a shared initiative of the Hadassah Medical Center and the Hebrew University of Jerusalem, aiming to conduct all the steps required for phage-based solutions, from phage isolation and characterization to treatments, for non-resolving bacterial infections. So far, a total of 159 requests for phage therapy arrived to the IPTC; 145 of them were from Israel and the rest from other countries. This number of registered requests is growing annually.