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Review
. 2025 Mar;16(3):247-269.
doi: 10.1080/20415990.2024.2426824. Epub 2024 Nov 15.

Phage therapeutic delivery methods and clinical trials for combating clinically relevant pathogens

Heba Mohammed Refat M Selim  1   2 , Fatma Alzahraa M Gomaa  3 , Mohammad Y Alshahrani  4 , Radwa N Morgan  5 , Khaled M Aboshanab  6   7
Affiliations
Review

Phage therapeutic delivery methods and clinical trials for combating clinically relevant pathogens

Heba Mohammed Refat M Selim et al. Ther Deliv. 2025 Mar.

Abstract

The ongoing global health crisis caused by multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria necessitates quick interventions to introduce new management strategies for MDR-associated infections and antimicrobial agents' resistance. Phage therapy emerges as an antibiotic substitute for its high specificity, efficacy, and safety profiles in treating MDR-associated infections. Various in vitro and in vivo studies denoted their eminent bactericidal and anti-biofilm potential. This review addresses the latest developments in phage therapy regarding their attack strategies, formulations, and administration routes. It additionally discusses and elaborates on the status of phage therapy undergoing clinical trials, and the challenges encountered in their usage, and explores prospects in phage therapy research and application.

Keywords: Phage therapy; antibiotics; bacteriophages; multidrug-resistant; phage cocktail.

Plain language summary

The bacteria that are resistant to commercial antibacterial agents/antibiotics yet still able to cause severe infections are known as multidrug-resistant (MDR) bacteria. Bacteriophages, or phages, are viruses that exclusively infect bacterial cells. Because of their safety and specificity, they are one of the suggested alternatives for treating MDRs. In the past decade, several scientific studies were conducted to test the possibility of incorporating bacteriophages in the treatment strategies and control of MDR-bacterial infections. In this review, we sum up and discuss how these phages fight MDR bacteria and explore the possible formulations and administration routes for phage therapies, and major challenges encountering their usages.

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Conflict of interest statement

The authors have no relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript. This includes employment, consultancies, honoraria, stock ownership or options, expert testimony, grants or patents received or pending, or royalties.

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