With a unique approach, Eligo engineers natural predators of bacteria to deliver CRISPR systems that kill antibiotic-resistant superbugs in the gut microbiome.
(BOSTON) – CARB-X announced today that it is awarding up to US$1.82 million to Eligo Bioscience in Paris, France, with additional funding for a total award of up to US$7.05 million if project milestones are met, for the development of a new generation of highly-specific antimicrobials to prevent multi-drug-resistant bacterial infections in organ transplant patients. Eligo’s bacteriophage- and CRISPR-based therapeutics are designed to selectively eliminate extended-spectrum beta-lactamase-producing (ESBL) and Carbapenem-resistant E. coli and K. Pneumoniae (CRE) from the microbiome of transplant patients before their procedure, thereby preventing the onset of these often-fatal infections.
Many patients enter hospitals pre-colonized by drug-resistant bacteria without symptoms. Transplant patients colonized by these superbugs have up to a 40% chance of developing postoperative infections due to surgery itself, and studies have shown up to 70% of such infections can be fatal. This high mortality rate is due to the fact that multi-drug-resistant infections do not respond to most commonly used antibiotics, and can even be resistant to all available antibiotics, leaving doctors with no treatment options. Indeed, transplant patients who had CRE infections after their procedure were five times as likely to die as those whose infections were not caused by these superbugs.
“The Eligo EB004 project is the first CRISPR-based phage project funded by CARB-X,” said Erin Duffy, Chief of Research and Development at CARB-X, a global non-profit partnership focused on supporting the early development of new vaccines, rapid diagnostics, antibiotics, and other life-saving therapeutic products to address the rise of drug-resistant bacteria. “Eligo is developing a new class of targeted biotherapeutics to selectively eliminate certain multidrug-resistant bacteria by combining the specificity of CRISPR and the ability of bacteriophages to deliver DNA into bacteria. This innovative approach, if successful, offers additional benefits in that it can prevent multi-drug-resistant infections while not harming bacteria in the microbiome.”
“We are extremely enthusiastic about our collaboration with CARB-X, which will bring our platform technology one step closer to addressing the critical problem of antibiotic resistance, starting with organ transplant patients, a population at extremely high risk of developing multi-resistant infections,” said Xavier Duportet, CEO of Eligo Bioscience.
“Our CRISPR-based approach is the first one that aims to specifically kill antibiotic-resistant bacteria before an infection has a chance to occur, thereby significantly reducing the risk of antibiotic treatment failures (and subsequent deaths) in organ transplant patients. We strongly believe that antibiotic resistance should be tackled from multiple fronts, and that our technology, which can be used to selectively remove bacteria that are linked to diseases from the microbiome, can significantly contribute to addressing this issue. If successful, this program could lead to a wide range of applications for pre-surgery decolonization to eliminate the risk of postoperative antibiotic-resistant infections for anyone undergoing surgery.”
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