Replace antibiotics with bacteriophages
Startup wants to replace antibiotics with programmable viruses
Georgy Golovanov, Hi-tech+
One of the graduates of the Y Combinator business incubator offers the world an alternative way to combat antibiotic-resistant microorganisms, which – before the coronavirus pandemic – were considered one of the main threats to humanity. The first tests were successful.
Now the world is at war with an organism so small that it can only be seen through a microscope. But if it is not stopped, it will kill millions in the coming decades. And we are not talking about COVID-19, but about resistant bacteria, writes Latest Venture news.
Today, 700,000 people die from bacterial infections every year in the world. If nothing is done, by 2050 this number will increase to 10 million, according to UN experts. The problem is that modern medicine prescribes too many antibiotics. In addition, they are constantly used in animal husbandry. At the same time, antibiotics kill only most of the bad bacteria, not all. And those who survive become stronger.
The American biotech startup Felix believes that it has found a way to contain the spread of resistant bacterial infections – these are viruses. The key technology developed by its founders allows viruses to be directed to specific bacterial sites. This not only kills pathogens, but also stops their ability to develop and become even more resistant.
The startup plans to primarily develop a therapy for bacterial infections for those suffering from cystic fibrosis, since these patients need to take antibiotics almost constantly to cope with a lung infection.
Felix has already successfully conducted a small preliminary test of his technique on a group of ten people. The founders claim that their approach is faster and cheaper than the development of traditional antibiotics, and already works on humans. The next step should be an experiment involving 30 people, and then the development of a research model and large–scale tests for compliance with the requirements of the US FDA.
Researchers from MIT have asked for help in the fight against resistant bacteria to artificial intelligence. By feeding the machine information about the atomic and molecular structure of 2500 natural and synthesized antibiotics, they obtained a substance capable of coping with many drug-resistant bacteria, including the causative agent of tuberculosis.
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