Exploring perceptions of bacteriophage use in the UK across the One Health spectrum: a roundtable discussion

In 2022, the UK Government launched the My Science Inquiry, an open call for potential topics of inquiry within science and technology. Applied Microbiology International (AMI) recommended bacteriophage as an alternative to antimicrobials, due to the increasingly serious threat of antimicrobial resistance. This resulted in an inquiry and report by the House of Commons Science, Innovation & Technology Committee, for which the government published a response in March 2024. In July 2024, AMI held a closed roundtable discussion, inviting bacteriophage experts across the One Health spectrum and all stages of the phage development pipeline to discuss some of the major barriers to phage therapy implementation within the UK. Overall, the lack of investment, national infrastructure and public awareness regarding phage therapy, its development and its potential, were agreed upon as the key barriers that need to be overcome to more widely implement phage therapy across the UK. Continuation of the Phage Innovation Network was repeatedly recognized as an essential requisite for overcoming these barriers and for ensuring the progress of phage innovation. The aim of this paper is to provide a progressive step for phage therapy, continuing momentum to facilitate their widespread implementation nationally.