CRISPR phages clear superbug in transplant patient
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- SNIPR's CRISPR-armed phage cocktail SNIPR001 improved a 65-year-old California man's antibiotic-resistant E. coli infection within a week — his abdominal wounds began healing and a bladder mass shrank from 0.74 liters to 0.37 liters.
- The patient had been placed on a new, more powerful antibiotic regimen 11 days before starting phage therapy, and SNIPR's Eric van der Helm said the phages may have acted synergistically with the drugs, possibly by breaking down bacterial biofilms the antibiotics couldn't penetrate.
- SNIPR001 can kill roughly 90% of all E. coli strains and can be delivered orally, intravenously, or applied directly to infected wounds, according to SNIPR.
- A US phase II clinical trial is now underway testing whether SNIPR001 can lower gut E. coli levels enough to reduce bloodstream infections in cancer patients, who face elevated risk.
- Since treating the California man on a compassionate-use basis, SNIPR has fielded 12 additional compassionate-use requests for the engineered phage cocktail.
- Jean-Paul Pirnay of Belgium's Queen Astrid Military Hospital warned that relying on a single small set of modified viruses could drive bacteria to evolve resistance via receptor changes or anti-CRISPR defenses.
Why it matters: SNIPR has fielded 12 new compassionate-use requests and launched a US phase II trial in cancer patients, pushing CRISPR-phage therapy from a single case report into broader clinical testing — though Jean-Paul Pirnay warns the narrow virus set could let bacteria evolve resistance through receptor changes or anti-CRISPR defenses.
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