A Phase 1 interventional study of Phage Therapy and Placebo in Bacteriuria, Spinal Cord Injuries and Asymptomatic Bacteriuria, sponsored by Barbara Trautner. Recruiting at 2 sites in United States. Open to participants aged 18 Years and older. Per ClinicalTrials.gov, last updated 2026-05-05.
Sponsored by Barbara Trautner · Phase 1, Interventional, and Treatment
This is a Phase 1b study to assess the safety, tolerability, PK, and PD of investigational phage therapy (IP) in adults with SCI and bladder colonization (ASB). It is a single-center, randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study in adults with SCI with neurogenic bladders and bacteriuria who use indwelling catheters, or who require intermittent catheterization for bladder drainage.
Approximately 30 participants will be randomized 1:1 to receive either investigational phage therapy (3 x 10\^8 PFU phage(s)) or inert placebo (sterile normal saline solution) will be administered intravesicularly (instilled into the participant's bladder via catheter) twice a day (BID) for 7 days; the investigational phage therapies are personalized for each participant per phage susceptibility testing to the predominant E. coli pathogen in the participant's bladder. A mixture of up to three phages in a sterile solution will comprise the investigational phage therapy. The study duration for participants will be up to 65 days, which includes up to 30 days for screening, 7 days of IP treatment, and post-treatment assessments at Days 14, 21, 28 and 35 (7, 14, 21 and 28 days after the End of Treatment [EOT] on Day 7, respectively). Day 35 is defined as the EOS. The investigators will strive to enroll participants who are receiving inpatient care in the Spinal Cord Injury units, but enrollment of outpatients with SCI is also possible. Study enrollment will continue for up to 30 evaluable participants.
The study will consist of a Screening Period of up to 30 days. On Day -1, eligible participants will be randomized to investigational phage therapy or placebo. The Treatment Period (Days 1-7) is 7 days and participants will receive a total of 14 doses of IP. The EOT will be after IP dose 14 on Day 7. The Follow-up Period is 35 days starting the day after the EOT with study assessments on Days 14, 21, and Day 35 (EOS). Adverse event data will be collected throughout the study from Treatment Day 1 through the EOS.
51 studies on the registry are indexed under Bacteriuria; 3 are open to participants now.
This study's planned enrollment of 30 is below the median of 100 across 37 interventional studies indexed under Bacteriuria.
Browse Bacteriuria studies →This is the only study on the registry with Barbara Trautner as lead sponsor.
Counted across the registry records on this site, refreshed daily.
Go through the criteria one by one — yes, no or not sure — and take the list to your doctor or the study team. Kept in this browser only.
Exclusion Criteria:
Underlined terms in the criteria open these too. Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
The number of CD4 cells, a type of white blood cell, in a given amount of blood. It is used to follow how well the immune system is doing in HIV.
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Informed consent
Before you join, the study team explains what taking part involves — its purpose, what happens, the risks and possible benefits — and answers your questions, so you can decide freely. Consent is usually recorded on a form (the informed consent form, ICF) signed by you or, where the law allows, by someone legally authorised to decide for you.
You can keep asking questions during the study, you are told of new information that matters, and you can choose to leave at any time.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Childbearing potential
Able to become pregnant: from the first period until menopause, unless permanently unable to through surgery (removal of the womb, or of both ovaries or both fallopian tubes).
Criteria for people of childbearing potential usually ask for a negative pregnancy test and for contraception during the study and for a time after it.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Contraception
Ways of preventing pregnancy. “Highly effective” methods fail less than 1% of the time a year when used correctly — for example an IUD or an implant.
Criteria usually say which methods count and how long to keep using them after the last dose, sometimes for male participants too. Some studies accept a partner’s vasectomy if it was confirmed successful and that person is the participant’s only sexual partner.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
HIV
The human immunodeficiency virus, which weakens the immune system.
Many studies now accept people whose HIV is controlled on treatment, judged by the viral load and the CD4 count. Check the limits this study sets.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
CD4 count
The number of CD4 cells, a type of white blood cell, in a given amount of blood. It is used to follow how well the immune system is doing in HIV.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
Clinically significant
Judged by the study doctor to matter for your health or for the study. It is a doctor’s decision, so ask the study team if you are unsure whether something counts.
Explained by clinicaltrials.gg, not part of the registry record. The study team decides who can take part.
A sterile solution of one to three individual phages (cocktail) (3 x 10\^8 plaque forming units \[PFU\]) phage(s) will be administered intravesicularly (instilled into the participant's bladder via catheter) twice a day for 7 days. The name of the active treatment IP is TAILФR Phage Cocktail (TPC).
Drug: Phage Therapy
Sterile 0.9% saline solution will be instilled into the bladder via catheter twice a day for 7 days
Other: Placebo
A 20 mL sterile solution containing one to three individual phage drug substances (TPC) with total strength (potency) 3 x 10\^8 plaque-forming units (PFU), will be administered intravesicularly twice a day (one instillation in the morning and one in the evening \[at least six hours apart\], respectively) for 7 days. The selection of individual phages to include in the TPC are personalized/customized for each participant per phage susceptibility testing to the participant's urinary E. coli (testing is conducted by TAILФR Service Center). Each dose of TPC will be followed with a 10 mL flush of sterile 0.9% saline solution.
Also known as: Phage
Sterile 0.9% saline solution also 20 mL, followed with a 10 mL flush of the same solution.
To evaluate the safety and tolerability of phage therapy in adults ≥18 years of age with spinal cord injury (SCI) and bacteriuria with Escherichia coli (E. coli)
Safety and tolerability analysis of Adverse Events. The urinary symptom questionnaires provided by MedStar Health, USQNB will be used as a daily study diary. Participant's charts for AEs while they are hospitalized, and during study visits on days 14, 21, and 35 if they have been discharged before Day 14. Blood samples will be collected for chemistry and hematology on days 1, 3, 7, 14, 21, and 35. Urine samples will be collected to detect and analyze markers of inflammation on Days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, and 35.
Time frame: 2 years
To evaluate the pharmacokinetics (PK) of investigational phage therapy
Blood samples will be collected to quantify phage titers, which will be measured as PFU (plaque-forming units) per mL (milliliter) of blood. To quantify phage titers, we will perform PCR to measure copies/volume of phage titer compared to a standard control of purified phage.
Time frame: 2 years
To evaluate of the pharmacodynamics (PD) of investigational phage therapy
Urine samples will be collected to analyze 1 log reduction in the urinary E. coli on Days 1, 2, 3, 5, 7, 14, 21, and 35. Analysis of recurrence of urinary E. coli colonization, incidence of urinary tract infection based on clinical signs and symptoms. Microbiological cure, defined as \<10\^3 CFU/mL of E. coli in the urine on Day 7.
Time frame: 2 years
To explore the influence of phage therapy on the urinary tract microbiota
Urine samples will be collected to analyze microbiome diversity, comparing pre-treatment sample to end of study sample. Emergence of phage resistance among the targeted E. coli in the bladder.
Time frame: 2 years
To explore the influence of phage therapy on the digestive tract microbiota
Analysis of stool sample microbiome diversity, comparing pre-treatment to end of study.
Time frame: 2 years
Plan to share: No
Started Feb 2025 (actual). Primary completion is estimated for Sep 2027, 31 months after the start.
How these figures are worked out, and which studies are left out of them.
Eligibility is decided by the study team. Share this record with your doctor or contact the team directly.
Contact study teamGet an email when the registry record changes — status, dates, results — or when someone posts here.
Sign in to followQuestions and observations about this study, from anyone following it. Not medical advice, and not a channel to the study team — their contact details are on the registry record.
Sign in to join the discussion. Reading takes no account; posting does. You choose a display name, and a pseudonym is the default.
Nothing here yet. If you are running this trial, taking part in it, or weighing whether to, this is the place to say so.