Podovirus
Podovirus
Podcast Description
Phages (bacteriophages) are viruses that kill bacteria. In an age of antibiotic resistance, we need them! Luckily there are 1000s of researchers studying phages, using them, and making them available for humans (phage therapy), agriculture, and beyond!
But phages don't quite fit our modern regulatory systems, so there's lots to do.
Jessica will have conversations with guests across the phage field (and beyond - whatever it takes to get answers). From diving into current research and initiatives, to getting to the root of bottlenecks in our field, to making sense of new trends and findings.
Podcast Insights
Content Themes
The podcast covers a diverse range of topics related to phage therapy and its applications, including episodes discussing the business viability of phage therapy, personalized medicine, regulatory challenges, and microbiome editing, with specific examples such as the journey of companies like Intralytix and Phiogen Pharmaceuticals.
Phages (bacteriophages) are viruses that kill bacteria. In an age of antibiotic resistance, we need them! Luckily there are 1000s of researchers studying phages, using them, and making them available for humans (phage therapy), agriculture, and beyond!
But phages don’t quite fit our modern regulatory systems, so there’s lots to do.
Jessica will have conversations with guests across the phage field (and beyond – whatever it takes to get answers). From diving into current research and initiatives, to getting to the root of bottlenecks in our field, to making sense of new trends and findings.
“Phages are not drugs. Every time they say, ‘Did you go through regulatory?’ I say, ‘I can do regulatory, but I’m not a drug.’ There’s 145 components of the regulatory requirements that I don’t fit in.”
When your health innovation doesn’t fit existing regulatory boxes, how do you build a business? Steven Theriault, CEO of Cytophage, has spent 9 years learning to navigate Canada’s regulatory maze for phage therapy. From being told “we don’t know” by government officials to raising $24M and treating patients, Steven shares his hard-won playbook for building in uncharted regulatory territory.
In this episode of the Podovirus Podcast, Jessica Sacher and Joe Campbell talk to Steven Theriault about what he’s tried, accomplished and learned in the last ~decade building a phage biotech company in Canada:
🎯 The pivot strategy: When hospitals won’t buy your innovation, find another market (Steven turned to chicken farmers when Clorox contracts blocked hospital sales)
🏛️ Educating regulators: How to teach government officials about your technology when they’ve never heard of it (Steven went from 10 officials with no idea what a phage was, to regular advisory calls to shape Canada’s approach to regulating phage therapy)
📋 Creating your own framework: Why Steven argues phages need different GMP guidelines than traditional drugs, and how to advocate for biological variability
💰 Funding the unfundable: How Cytophage raised $24M for technology that doesn’t fit traditional pharma investment models
🔄 The workaround approach: Building revenue streams (agriculture) to fund your real mission (human health) when direct paths are blocked
🌐 International advantage: Why Steven has more regulatory traction in the US than Canada, and how to leverage global progress domestically
Learn more:
Cytophage website: https://cytophage.com/
Steven’s 2024 TEDx talk on the future of phage therapy: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OyfbKOLNlWg
The CBC News story on Cytophage’s first patient treatment: Thea’s success story: https://www.cbc.ca/news/canada/manitoba/phage-therapy-infection-1.7156333
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