[Disclosure: AgFunderNews’ parent company AgFunder is an investor in Phagos.]

Paris, France-based biotech company Phagos has raised a €25 million ($29 million) Series A round to further develop its bacteriophage drugs used to treat bacterial disease in animals and, eventually, humans.

The company calls these drugs “a sustainable answer to the global challenge of bacterial resistance.” It will use the funding to deploy treatments, starting with animal health, as well as further develop its technology that simplifies the discovery process.

CapAgro, Hoxton Ventures, CapHorn, and Demeter co-led the round, which also saw participation from Acurio Ventures, Citizen Capital, Entrepreneur First, Founders Capital, and Station F.

Drug pipeline to fight AMR ‘insufficient’ 

Phagos’ fundraise news comes just days after the World Health Organization released new reports that detail the escalating problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the “insufficient” pipeline of drugs and innovations needed to tackle drug-resistant bacterial infections.

AMR is expected to cause some 39 million deaths globally over the next 25 years. It is also a leading cause of death among animals, which raises food security and livelihood concerns in addition to those around animal welfare.

In its new reports, the WHO calls for “greater investment in tools designed for resource-limited settings, including those that eliminate the need for culture and simplifying diagnostic platforms for primary and secondary care use.”

The promise of phage therapy 

Bacteriophage—or simply “phages”—are present in everything from soil to the human gut, and regulate the number of bacteria in humans, plants, and animals.

Phagos says that thanks to millions of years of co-evolution with bacteria, phages are specialized to detect specific bacterial targets without harming other cells. This makes them an attractive potential alternative to antibiotics. In animal health, for example, they could be used to treat salmonella or E. coli.

The Phagos platform, dubbed “Alphagos,” combines microbiology with artificial intelligence to diagnose bacterial strains, identify phages that can fight those strains, and develop “ultra-targeted bacterial treatments” that leverage phages, says the company.

These treatments are continuously updated to ensure subjects stay healthy without contributing to AMR.

The company, founded in 2021, has started with solutions for animal health, which it says can be tailored to the needs of a specific livestock operation or environment. Currently, the Phagos phage therapy is deployed across the chicken, cattle, swine, and shrimp sectors. Phagos also recently filed a patent for its AI platform.

“We are convinced that phage therapy can transform the history of medicine just as antibiotics did in the last century,” noted Phagos’ founders Alexandros Pantalis and Adèle James.

“Thanks to our regulatory breakthroughs and our patented platform combining microbiology and artificial intelligence, we now have the opportunity to establish phage therapy as a global reference solution: for animal health today, and for human health tomorrow.”

The Series A financing will go towards further deployment of veterinary phage therapy in the field. Funds will also enable further development of the Alphagos platform as well as international expansion across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.

Paris, France-based biotech company Phagos has raised a €25 million ($29 million) Series A round to further develop its bacteriophage drugs used to treat bacterial disease in animals and, eventually, humans.

The company calls these drugs “a sustainable answer to the global challenge of bacterial resistance.” It will use the funding to deploy treatments, starting with animal health, as well as further develop its technology that simplifies the discovery process.

CapAgro, Hoxton Ventures, CapHorn, and Demeter co-led the round, which also saw participation from Acurio Ventures, Citizen Capital, Entrepreneur First, Founders Capital, and Station F.

Drug pipeline to fight AMR ‘insufficient’ 

Phagos’ fundraise news comes just days after the World Health Organization released new reports that detail the escalating problem of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) and the “insufficient” pipeline of drugs and innovations needed to tackle drug-resistant bacterial infections.

AMR is expected to cause some 39 million deaths globally over the next 25 years. It is also a leading cause of death among animals, which raises food security and livelihood concerns in addition to those around animal welfare.

In its new reports, the WHO calls for “greater investment in tools designed for resource-limited settings, including those that eliminate the need for culture and simplifying diagnostic platforms for primary and secondary care use.”

The promise of phage therapy 

Bacteriophage—or simply “phages”—are present in everything from soil to the human gut, and regulate the number of bacteria in humans, plants, and animals.

Phagos says that thanks to millions of years of co-evolution with bacteria, phages are specialized to detect specific bacterial targets without harming other cells. This makes them an attractive potential alternative to antibiotics. In animal health, for example, they could be used to treat salmonella or E. coli.

The Phagos platform, dubbed “Alphagos,” combines microbiology with artificial intelligence to diagnose bacterial strains, identify phages that can fight those strains, and develop “ultra-targeted bacterial treatments” that leverage phages, says the company.

These treatments are continuously updated to ensure subjects stay healthy without contributing to AMR.

The company, founded in 2021, has started with solutions for animal health, which it says can be tailored to the needs of a specific livestock operation or environment. Currently, the Phagos phage therapy is deployed across the chicken, cattle, swine, and shrimp sectors. Phagos also recently filed a patent for its AI platform.

“We are convinced that phage therapy can transform the history of medicine just as antibiotics did in the last century,” noted Phagos’ founders Alexandros Pantalis and Adèle James.

“Thanks to our regulatory breakthroughs and our patented platform combining microbiology and artificial intelligence, we now have the opportunity to establish phage therapy as a global reference solution: for animal health today, and for human health tomorrow.”

The Series A financing will go towards further deployment of veterinary phage therapy in the field. Funds will also enable further development of the Alphagos platform as well as international expansion across Europe, Asia, and the Americas.