Md. biotech Adaptive Phage Therapeutics advances fight to wipe out superbugs in cystic fibrosis

A Maryland biotech that’s been working to wipe out drug-resistant infections, or superbugs, is hustling to take its therapy to the patients who need it — now with another avenue to get it done. Gaithersburg’s Adaptive Phage Therapeutics Inc. said Thursday its bacteriophage therapy, which attacks bacteria that don’t respond to antibiotics, is being tested in a study of adults with cystic fibrosis who have a germ called Pseudomonas aeruginosa in their lungs. The National Institutes of Health and its National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases, which have backed APT’s work previously, are funding the trial.