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Phage therapy: The peculiar kinetics of self‐replicating pharmaceuticals
Author(s) -
Payne Robert J. H.,
Jansen Vincent A. A.
Publication year - 2000
Publication title -
clinical pharmacology and therapeutics
Language(s) - English
Resource type - Journals
SCImago Journal Rank - 1.941
H-Index - 188
eISSN - 1532-6535
pISSN - 0009-9236
DOI - 10.1067/mcp.2000.109520
Subject(s) - phage therapy , medicine , antibiotic therapy , pharmacokinetics , antibiotics , intensive care medicine , clinical pharmacology , pharmacology , bacteriophage , biology , microbiology and biotechnology , genetics , escherichia coli , gene
The specter of antibiotic‐resistant bacteria has provoked renewed interest in the possible use of bacteriophages to control bacterial infections. We argue that clinical application of phage therapy has been held back by a failure to appreciate the extent to which the pharmacokinetics of self‐replicating agents differ from those of normal drugs. For self‐replicating pharmaceutical agents, treatment outcome depends critically on various density‐dependent thresholds, often with apparently paradoxical consequences. An ability to predict these thresholds and associated critical time points is a necessity if phage therapy is to become clinically practicable. Clinical Pharmacology & Therapeutics (2000) 68 , 225–230; doi: 10.1067/mcp.2000.109520