Horizon OHRI announcement

The international phage consortium has been awarded €14M from the European Horizon grant to run the first multicenter RCT to test phage -bacteria’s natural predators- for treating infections around artificial joints. The Canadian company Qeen Biotechnologies, based in Gatineau Quebec, is the trial sponsor. The OHRI and OMC are leading participants.  

An infection around an artificial joint replacement, called periprosthetic joint infection (PJI), is devastating for patients and is the main reason that hip and knee replacements sometimes fail. Currently, PJI is treated with prolonged antibiotics and multiple surgeries, but this is often not effective enough to clear the infection.

The internationl phage consortium was recently awarded €14M from the European Horizon grant to run a PhaseI/II multicentered double-blinded RCT to test phage as an adjuvant therapy for PJI. With over 15 participating sites world-wide and a target patient recruitment of over 400, this trial design will be the first of its kind to determine safety and efficacy of phage therapy in PJI care. This trial will help answer important questions about phage therapy in PJI, including delivery, pharmacokinetics, and immune response.

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Dr. Hesham Abdelbary is the clinical principal investigator at the OHRI and Drs. Tim Ramsay and Peter Greenspan at OMC are leading the statistical analysis and data management for the Trial.

“We hope this trial will give PJI patients who face risk of relapse and repeat surgery a real chance at a lasting cure” says Dr. Nancy Tawil, CEO of Qeen Biotechnologies.

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