SNIPR Biome Receives CARB-X Funding to Test SNIPR001 in Phase 1B/2A Clinical Trial

Danish CRISPR company SNIPR Biome has received $5.48 million from Combating Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria Biopharmaceutical Accelerator (“CARB-X”) to co-fund a Phase 1b/2a clinical of SNIPR001 in blood cancer patients.

SNIPR001 is a novel, orally-administered antibiotic that is designed to precisely target difficult-to-treat bacterial infections. It is developed using SNIPR Biome's CRISPR-Guided Vectors™ (CGV™ Technology), which is designed to deliver CRISPR reagents into target bacterial cells.

CGVs are designed to selectively eradicate target bacteria in a sequence-specific manner, and are delivered to target bacterial cells via engineered bacteriophages or through bacterial conjugation. Once inside target cells, the CGVs assemble into Cas-RNA complexes that create double-stranded breaks in bacterial genomes, leading to ultra-rapid killing in a matter of minutes, allowing rapid response in acute settings.

SNIPR001 is designed to target certain E. coli bacteria in the gut and thus prevent their translocation to the bloodstream, without affecting beneficial bacteria in the microbiome. It contains four CRISPR-armed phages that selectively target and eliminate E. coli strains that are resistant to fluoroquinolone, with demonstrated efficacy in animal disease models. You can read more about SNIPR001 in our interview with SNIPR Biome here.

The trial, which is expected to begin later this year, will evaluate SNIPR001 in haematological cancer patients who are undergoing haematopoietic stem-cell transplantation (HSCT) and are colonised with fluoroquinolone-resistant (FQR) E. coli. Fluoroquinolone is recommended in the United States for the prophylactic treatment of bacterial infections and febrile neutropenia in haematological cancer patients at high risk of developing neutropenia. The trial will investigate the safety, tolerability, pharmacokinetics, and pharmacodynamics of orally-administrated SNIPR001 in 24 patients. It will be conducted at up to 10 sites across Europe and the United States.

Read more in the official press release from SNIPR Biome here.