Novartis joins the Big Pharma exodus out of antibiotics, dumping research, cutting 140 and out-licensing programs

New York Times High in the Sierra Nevada mountains of Spain, an international team of researchers set out four buckets to gather a shower of viruses falling from the sky. Scientists have surmised there is a stream of viruses circling the planet, above the planet’s weather systems but below the level of airline travel. Very little is known about this realm, and that’s why the number of deposited viruses stunned the team in Spain. Each day, they calculated, some 800 million viruses cascade onto every square meter of… Read More →

On the evening of Nov. 7, Steffanie Strathdee sent out a cryptic tweet: “#Phage researchers! I am working with a team to get Burkholderia cepacia phages to treat a 25 y old woman with CF whose infection has failed all #antibiotics. We need lytic non-lysogenic phage URGENTLY to find suitable phage matches. Email if you can help!” The message was retweeted nearly 400 times. To the average social-media user, the tweet might as well have been written in another language, but to those who know Strathdee, it was… Read More →

Bacteriophages — viruses found in soil, water and human waste — may be the cure in a post-antibiotic world. Source: Sewage Saved This Man’s Life. Someday It Could Save Yours. | HuffPost

Phage therapy to combat bacterial infections is garnering attention for the second time in 100 years, but solid clinical support for its widespread use is still lacking. Source: Viral Soldiers | The Scientist Magazine®

Meat is murder. Meat—especially beef—is cigarettes and a Hummer rolled into one. For the sake of the animals, our own health, and the health of the planet, we must eat less of it. Meat is delicious. Meat is nutritious. Global demand is soaring for good reason, and we must find a way to produce more of it. In short, meat—especially beef—has become the stuff of fierce debate. Link: Carnivore’s Dilemma – National Geographic.

The search for alternatives to antibiotics has led many scientists to a treatment practice that’s been on the fringes of modern medicine for nearly a century. Bacteriophages—viruses that infect and kill bacteria—were first used in 1919 to treat a wide range of infections. Phage therapy fell out of favor with the advent of antibiotics; the practice has only persisted in some European countries as an experimental treatment. However, earlier this year, phage therapy was highlighted as one of seven approaches to “achieving a coordinated and nimble approach to… Read More →