Adaptive Phage Therapeutics Announces “The AMR RAPID™ Challenge”

APT's phage bank, in combination with our Phage Susceptibility Test (PST), closes the loop in antibiotic development, breaking the failed cycle of repeated antibiotic product introduction followed by resistance-driven obsolescence. Unlike traditional antibiotic development, APT's phage bank approach is designed to adapt to emerging resistance within weeks. With the combination of the world's largest and most diverse therapeutic phage collection and the integration of real-time surveillance of phage susceptibility, gaps in antibiotic spectrum are now guaranteed to be covered by APT's phage bank.

AMR bacteria are no match for APT’s phage bank. We guarantee it.

With APT's AMR RAPID Challenge we will pay $1,000 to any individual or institution that identifies a bacteria within the CDC's most serious and urgent biological threat categories (i.e. the "ESKAPE" pathogens*) that APT does not cover with its phage bank (see rules and conditions below). We especially welcome bacterial isolates that are completely resistant to all available antibiotics.

* ESKAPE = Enterococcus faecium, Staphylococcus aureus, Klebsiella pneumoniae, Acinetobacter baumannii, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Enterobacter

What is the AMR RAPID Challenge?

APT is putting out a challenge to the AMR clinical research community: can you find a bacteria that our phage bank does not cover? We are confident that we either currently cover all bacterial isolates or can expand coverage to include any isolate within 120 days.

We guarantee that APT's phage bank will demonstrate sensitivity on any ESKAPE* AMR isolate or we will pay the individual or institution that provided the isolate $1,000.

Find an isolate we can't cover and we will pay you $1000! (See the rules below)

The history APT's phage bank

Prior antimicrobial therapeutics have failed to adapt to evolving bacterial resistance. During the life cycle of an antibiotic product, the broadest coverage is when the drug is first introduced into the market, which has always been followed by reductions in coverage and even drug obsolescence, despite the practice of antibiotic stewardship. When new antibiotics are needed, research and development efforts require over a decade of drug discovery and clinical testing prior to market availability — that's too slow. Development of new antibiotics has proven to be unable to keep pace with emerging resistance.

To address the global AMR crisis, APT's phage bank technology was initially developed at the National Institutes of Health (NIH) and further advanced within a biodefense program of U.S. military. APT acquired world-wide rights in 2017 and has continued to advance this approach toward broad commercial availability. APT's phage bank is carefully curated, expanding, and unlike other antimicrobial approaches, adapts to the emergence of resistance and increases in coverage over time. Today, APT's phage bank is the world's largest, most diverse phage collection.

APT's phages are matched to an infection through a proprietary Phage Susceptibility Test (PST) and, in 2020, APT teamed with Mayo Clinic Laboratories to commercialize this assay on a global scale. With real-time phage-susceptibility test surveillance, APT's platform can respond to emerging variants in months as opposed to decades.

How to enter

To apply, email the following required information to rapid@phagebank.com:

  • Name of submitter
  • Institution name (if applicable)
  • Email
  • Phone number
  • Source/Clinical indication of isolate (e.g. blood, bone, lung, skin, tissue and hardware infection, pneumonia, sepsis, wound, other)
  • Attachment: Bacterial ID and AST lab results. (PDF or JPG)
  • Attachment (optional): Bacterial genomic sequence (FASTA file)

Once successfully submitted, APT will confirm receipt and acceptance or rejection of application and will provide shipping instructions.

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