Complementing complementary science with repertoires: The case of phage therapy

This article proposes a conceptual analysis of Chang's notion of complementary science through a case study on the revival of phage therapy. Complementary science urges historians and philosophers to recover and extend Kuhn losses - prematurely abandoned systems of practice. The revival of phage therapy, which involves aligning not only epistemic but also material, social, regulatory and clinical elements, reveals the need to extend Chang's framework with Ankeny and Leonelli's notion of repertoires. This conceptual shift proves broadly fruitful. For complementary science, it highlights the normative and ethical dimensions involved in identifying Kuhn losses and foregrounds its transdisciplinary nature. It also clarifies how established repertoires can function both as ambivalent inspirations and entrenched obstacles for emerging ones. Finally, it helps reframe the historical trajectory and contemporary assessment of phage therapy, showing a plurality of benefits and of possible developments independently of its full reintegration into the Western pharmacopoeia. More generally, the article illustrates the value of an integrated history and philosophy of science attentive to the interlinked material, epistemic and social elements involved in scientific practices.