Phiogen

MOBILIZING NATURE’S DEFENDERS
FOR NEXT-GENERATION THERAPEUTICS

TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM

BACTERIOPHAGE INNOVATION FOR
NEXT-GENERATION MEDICAL HEALTH SOLUTIONS

TECHNOLOGY PLATFORM

DRUG-RESISTANT BACTERIA:
‍PUBLIC ENEMY NUMBER ONE

Antimicrobial resistant (AMR) bacteria, or ‘super bugs’, are predicted by the World Health Organization (WHO) to kill up to 10 million per year by 2050. That's the equivalent to 1 person every 3 seconds.

Bacteriophage:
‍elite soldiers of the microbial world

Also known as phages, these naturally occurring viruses have been battling bacteria in an evolutionary arms race for all eternity by infiltrating, and destroying bacterial colonies with pinpoint precision.

Resistance:
end of era for antibiotics

While phage have been used to treat people for more than a century, their full potential as medical solutions is yet to be exploited. In parallel, low-cost, broad-spectrum antibiotics, once considered to be miracle drugs, provided a lifeline to patients with serious infections. Now, surging antibiotic resistance and advances in phage biology have revived the potential of phage as a viable alternative.

Solution:
evolving the way we battle bacteria

By studying the natural history of bacterial infections, we have developed a holistic strategy that leverages bacteriophages to cut-off foundational evolutionary pathways for colonization.

DEPLOYING EVOLVED PHAGE TO NEUTRALIZE BACTERIAL
INFECTIONS THAT PLAGUE HUMANITY

PHIOGEN creates breakthrough antimicrobial solutions by using state-of-the-art capture technology and human-like model systems that mimic the complexity of real infections. We select hyper-functional phages that target bacterial vulnerabilities and utilize proprietary machinery to drive evolutionary changes that overcome resistance.

BACTERIA HUNTING

BIOFILM PENETRATING

LOCALLY TARGETING

RESISTANCE BLOCKING

ABOUT PHIOGEN

PHIOGEN INC was founded in 2023 to commercialize technology developed at TAILΦR Labs, a personalized phage therapy center of Baylor College of Medicine.

Located at the Texas Medical Center Innovation Hub, PHIOGEN’s experienced team of experts are building on a decade of research in phage biology to develop next generation therapeutics.

Our innovative platform capitalizes on the successes of personalized phage therapy, while our game-changing technology opens the door to a sustainable business model in which we can treat entire patient populations with a single solution.

Founders

Born out of innovation, PHIOGEN was founded by Baylor College of Medicine and is supported by BCM Ventures. We have partnered with TAILOR Labs, the US’s first phage discovery and manufacturing center, to bring scientific breakthroughs to patients at a population level. This combination of forces has equipped PHIOGEN with world-class science, unmatched commercial expertise and unlimited clinical access in the world’s largest medical center.

TAILΦR LAB

Tailored Antibacterials and Innovative Laboratories for phage (Φ) Research (TAILΦR) is housed in the Texas Medical Center. It is a non-profit initiative delivering personalized and effective treatments for antibiotic-resistant bacterial infections.

BCM VENTURES

Baylor College of Medicine Ventures aims to support university innovators, entrepreneurs and industry to encourage the commercialization of ideas and identify market opportunities or collaborative ventures that benefit society.

BAYLOR COLLEGE OF MEDICINE

Baylor College of Medicine is a health sciences university based in Houston, Texas. It educates healthcare providers and scientists in programs considered among the most elite in the world - focusing on cultivating innovative ideas to improving health through science.

Meet The Team

Technology Platform

PHIOGEN’s unique platform is underpinned by innovative technology and expert insight to generate revolutionary breakthrough in phage biology. The proprietary platform consolidates state-of-the-art technologies inside a single structured research and development process focused on generating commercial solutions.

END-TO-END CAPABILITIES

Unravelling the full functionality and harnessing the power of bacteriophages requires a multidisciplinary, end-to-end scientific approach with an in-depth biological understanding of how phages naturally interact with bacteria. Our breakthrough platform enables us to discover rare phages with highly targeted neutralizing capabilities, evolve hyper-lytic phages to overcome resistance, and test them in high-throughput biological models, resulting in cultivated antimicrobial solutions that successfully productize bacteriophage to improve clinical outcomes.

‍Click on the Icons to learn more…

Discovery

We have developed the world’s first and only bacteriophage mass capture device, where we are able to deploy on phage reconnaissance missions, collecting and filtering billions of phage from where they naturally occur; accelerating sample collection from 4 days to just under 4 hours. After collecting an army of phages, we hand pick the best defenders and track their kill activity against a large panel of drug resistant isolates collected from infected patients.

Genetic profiling

PHIOGEN uses state-of-the-art biomedical methods to perform a thorough vetting of all enhanced phages. This includes but is not limited to sequencing and genome annotation in CLIA certified labs, streamlining production to maximize cost-efficiency, optimizing storage conditions for stable formulations, rigorous screening for safety and phage-antibiotic combinatorial testing for synergy, among many others. By characterizing our phages from head-to-tail, we can get an accurate indication of interactions and behavior to curate high-performing antimicrobial solutions.

BIOCLIMATIC SCREENING

Our access to stem-cell derived 3D culture systems means PHIOGEN can effectively grow and study cells that simulate physiological conditions of infection. Biological media from humans e.g. blood and urine are also used to replicate real world settings. This effectively creates an artificial patient to ensure the phages work in the target environment.

Directed evolution

PHIOGEN uses a patented device that drives directed evolution of new phage variants, accelerating lengthy processes that may take years to occur, or never happen at all, into mere hours or days.

This is how we are able to enhance intrinsic characteristics that can overcome resistance through naturally selecting and implementing pressure – enabling the cycling through millions of generations until a single mutation occurs to reveal a next-gen super phage.

PRECISION PHAGE FORMULATION

We strategically design, produce and test different combination of Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) grade phage with elite infection-fighting capabilities to identify optimal formulations for clinical trials.

Our focus during this stage is to drive a synergistic effect and ensure that selected phages work in unison to target various pathways of infection.

Pre-clinical testing

Our use of bioclimatic screening eliminates candidates early in the development process, de-risking assets and reducing unnecessary trials.

We validate final formulation using complex in-vivo challenge models that mimic systemic infection to ensure safety and efficacy.

Our pre-clinical approach ensures the highest probability of success in improving clinical outcomes.

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Management Team

Amanda Burkardt

Chief Executive Officer

Ms. Amanda Burkardt has over 15 years of experience commercializing technology, consulting, and scientific research both domestically and internationally.

Mayukh Das

Chief Operations Officer

Dr. Mayukh Das has over 19 years of experience developing phage-based products and managing research and development operations inside academia, biotech start-ups and large pharma.

Austen Terwilliger

Clinical Operations Manager

Dr. Austen Terwilliger is an accomplished academic researcher with extensive experience in molecular microbiology, bacterial pathogenesis, wastewater epidemiology, and phage biology.

JUSTIN CLARK

BIOINFORMATICIST

Dr. Justin Clark holds over 15 years of experience as an accomplished molecular biologist, inventor, and bioinformatician.

KEIKO SALAZAR

Principal Scientist

Dr. Keiko Salazar has been working with phages and their pathogenic hosts for over 9 years, starting as a student intern at Sandia National Laboratories.

PAULINE KIM

RESEARCH TECHNICIAN

Ms. Pauline Kim has over 5 years of research laboratory experience in a variety of verticals from chemistry to microbiology.

Soufiane Bel Rhali

RESEARCH TECHNICIAN

Mr. Soufiane Bel Rhali brings over 8 years of extensive research laboratory experience, specializing in microbiology, molecular biology, and bioengineering.

JAMIE BAILEY

Mr. Jamie Bailey has 20 years of accounting and finance experience, leading and overseeing multidisciplinary teams in accounting, planning, treasury and tax functions.

ANTHONY MARESSO

Dr. Anthony Maresso has 20 years experience in genetics, biochemistry, and cell biology and is the Joseph Melnick Chair and Professor in Molecular Virology at Baylor College of Medicine.

JOSEPH PETROSINO

Dr. Joseph Petrosino has over 25 years of experience in microbiology, commercialization, and leadership .

Benjamin Wilhelm

Business Consultant

Oliver Hardcastle

Business Consultant

Pipeline

Our pipeline is focused on delivering novel classes of therapeutics, derived from bacteriophages. The disease targets in our pipeline include several drug-resistant bacteria on the World Health Organization's global priority pathogen list.

Evolved bacteriophages created on our platform have already been successfully administered to patients under emergency use authorization (EUA) provided by the FDA in order to administer rescue treatment in critically-ill patients where antibiotics have failed.

Emergency Use in Humans

DISCOVERY

Identification and characterization of highly lytic phage

SCREENING

Testing performance in simulated models of infection and target environment

LEAD OPTIMIZATION

Cocktail formulation with directed evolution to block resistance

PRE-CLINICAL

Validation and proof of concept in animal models

CLINICAL

Phase I / II human clinical trials

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Commercial Partnerships

PHIOGEN’s commercialization plan features establishment of partnerships, joint ventures, and licensing arrangements with industry to fuel bacteriophage innovation needs.

Our proprietary technology platform can be deployed on new targets and generate product candidates in an accelerated time period.

If you would like to discuss partnering opportunities, contact us.

Academic & Research Collaborations

PHIOGEN is working with academic research, instituties, and other phage companies to fuel development and accelerate our pipeline.

We are always looking to collaborate and recruit innovation to our platform to help bridge the gap between research and commercialization.

If you are interested in collaborating, contact us.

Latest News

Houston-based biotech finalist PHIOGEN wins SXSW Best Inclusivity award

5th April, 2024

BIOTECH COMPANY PHIOGEN ANNOUNCES THE APPOINTMENT OF CHIEF OPERATIONS OFFICER

16th October, 2023

New biotech PHIOGEN™️ receives Best Scientific Innovation Award at the 6th World Conference on Targeting Phage Therapy

6th June, 2023

PHIOGEN™️ LAUNCHES PHAGE DISCOVERY PLATFORM FOR NEXT-GENERATION PHARMACEUTICALS

1st June, 2023

Contact Us

To contact us, email info@phiogenpharma.com or complete the form below.