JAFRAL joins REPhRAME partners at project kick-off in Frankfurt
JAFRAL TOOK PART IN THE KICK-OFF MEETING OF REPHRAME, A HORIZON EUROPE PROJECT THAT IS DEVELOPING A NEW, NON-ANTIBIOTIC STRATEGY AGAINST RECURRENT URINARY TRACT INFECTIONS.
At the beginning of November, the REPhRAME partners came together in Frankfurt for the project kick-off meeting. Led by Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt, the consortium brings together 16 partners from academia, clinical research and industry across eight European countries. JAFRAL is the consortium’s partner from Slovenia.
A growing problem that needs new answers
Urinary tract infections affect more than 400 million people worldwide every year, and in 30 to 50 per cent of cases the infection comes back. Standard treatment relies on antibiotics, which raises the risk of resistance. Many patients end up in a cycle of infection, antibiotics and reinfection.
A two-step approach
REPhRAME is assessing a novel two-component treatment:
- Bacteriophage therapy to treat the acute infection. The project uses a defined phage product that targets the E. coli strains most often behind urinary tract infections.
- Fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT-IMP) to restore a healthy gut microbiome and help prevent the infection from returning.
The approach will be evaluated in a multicentre, randomised Phase Ib/IIa clinical trial. According to the consortium, the partners made good progress on the trial design in Frankfurt and agreed on the next steps.
Our role in the consortium
Phages are at the core of what JAFRAL does. As a CDMO dedicated to phage-based products, we bring our expertise in process development and GMP manufacturing to REPhRAME, helping phage preparations meet pharmaceutical standards consistently.
Moving forward together
Bringing phage therapy into clinical practice takes clinicians, researchers, regulators and manufacturers working side by side. REPhRAME brings exactly these together, and we are proud to be part of it.
We thank Universitätsmedizin Frankfurt and Prof. Dr. Maria J.G.T. Vehreschild for leading the consortium, and all partners for a great start.
Learn more about the project at www.rephrame-project.eu.
REPhRAME project (N° 101287159) is funded by the European Union under the Horizon Europe research and innovation programme.
