-- Phage One Voice, a newly established nonprofit organization, has officially launched with the goal of expanding access to bacteriophage therapy — a treatment that uses naturally occurring viruses to target and destroy bacterial infections. The organization is led by Christopher Shaffer, Ph.D., a former high school principal and patient advocate who credits phage therapy with saving his life after more than two years of failed antibiotic treatment.
Image courtesy of Chris Shaffer
Phage One Voice is composed of patient advocates and scientists operating outside of academic institutions. The organization intends to build a personalized phage therapy pipeline that connects patients and their physicians directly to phage-based medication through the compassionate use process.
Among its early achievements, the organization has secured one of the world's largest phage libraries — a collection of bacteriophages stored in vials and curated over the past 50 years. Phage One Voice plans to offer naming rights to this phage bank as part of its funding strategy. To date, roughly 500 people have been treated with phage therapy in the United States over the past decade.
Shaffer's personal experience with antimicrobial-resistant infection drives the organization's urgency. After two and a half years of failing antibiotic treatments for an E. coli with ESBL superinfection, Shaffer traveled to the Eliava Phage Therapy Center in Tbilisi, Georgia, for treatment. After four months of phage therapy, his infection was eradicated, and he has remained infection-free for more than two years since.
"Phage did in four months what antibiotics failed to do in over two years, and it did so with zero side effects," Shaffer wrote in his book, Finding Phage: How I Partnered with a Friendly Virus to Cure my Deadly Bacterial Superinfection, published in October 2024.
The Lancet medical journal has stated that bacterial infections are on track to become the world's leading cause of death. Bacteriophages can target bacteria directly and have also demonstrated the capacity to work alongside antibiotics, potentially restoring the effectiveness of treatments that had previously failed.
Shaffer's case was published on August 22, 2024, in the International Journal of Clinical Virology, under the title Resolution of Chronic Bacterial Prostatitis with Bacteriophage-antibiotic Therapy, contributing to the peer-reviewed body of evidence on the treatment's efficacy against antimicrobial-resistant infections.
Beyond individual patient care, Phage One Voice plans to broaden its work into agriculture, food processing, cosmetics, veterinary medicine, and aquaculture. The organization also intends to establish a public awareness and education arm dedicated to informing patients and physicians about available phage therapy options.
"Before people can ask about phage therapy, they need to know it exists," Shaffer noted in his book, describing the widespread lack of awareness he encountered throughout his own treatment journey.
About
Phage One Voice is a nonprofit organization composed of patient advocates and scientists working to advance bacteriophage therapy as a treatment for bacterial infections that do not respond to antibiotics. The organization holds one of the world's largest phage libraries and aims to build a personalized treatment pipeline connecting patients and physicians to phage-based care through the compassionate use process. Phage One Voice operates independently of academic institutions and plans to broaden its work to include agriculture, food processing, veterinary medicine, and public education.
Contact Info:
Name: Christopher Shaffer, Ph.D.
Email: Send Email
Organization: Phage One Voice
Website: https://phagetherapyusa.com/
Release ID: 89188129
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