Gaithersburg firm scores $10.2 M federal contract for superbug cure

Less than two weeks after being credited with saving a Minnesota man's leg from a drug-resistant superbug infection, a Gaithersburg biotech firm has scored more than admiration from the nation. Adaptive Phage Therapeutics has just won a $10.2 million contract from the U.S. Department of Defense.

The money will fund a clinical trial for APT's innovative PhageBank, a personalized bacteriophage therapeutic that would be used to treat multidrug-resistant and complicated bacterial infections. A phage is a virus found in nature that recent breakthoughs have proven can be used to attack bacteria that have become immune to treatment with pharmaceutical drugs.

Specific phages from the bank can be matched to the infection diagnosis of each individual patient. In a press release announcing the contract, APT notes that phage research began in the 1920s, but was abandoned in the belief that drugs like Penicillin developed soon afterward were the answer to curing infections.

APT says this is the first phage-based therapy to be chosen by the Pentagon for this type of advanced research and development. CEO and co-founder Greg Merril predicts the DOD-funded research will have potential benefits for military and civilian patients alike. Once again, biotech is the lone hot business sector to watch in the otherwise-moribund Montgomery County economy.