---
title: "A New Drug Uses CRISPR to Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria"
description: "Eligo Bioscience believes the creation of eligobiotics — new smart drugs that attack harmful bacteria with precision — will be enough to combat antibiotic-resistant diseases and prevent the millions of deaths the infections are expected to cause in the next 30 years."
date: "2017-10-01"
modified: "2017-10-01"
authors:
  - name: "Kyree Leary"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/kyree"
url: "https://futurism.com/neoscope/a-new-drug-uses-crispr-to-fight-antibiotic-resistant-bacteria"
categories:
  - "Bacteria"
  - "Health & Medicine"
  - "Medical"
  - "Pathogens"
tags:
  - "antibiotics"
  - "bacteria"
  - "CRISPR"
  - "drug resistance"
---

# A New Drug Uses CRISPR to Fight Antibiotic-Resistant Bacteria

![antibiotics drug resistance bacteria crispr](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2017/09/1_Quote_C0322073-Enterococcus_faecalis_coccus_prokaryote_SEM-copie.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: \<a href="https://eligo-bioscience.com/" target="\_blank"\>Eligo Bioscience\</a\>\</em\>*

## Creating Eligobiotics

The [rise of antibiotic-resistant diseases](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/a-world-without-antibiotics-the-un-has-elevated-the-issue-of-antibiotic-resistance>) has prompted the development of[ more powerful drugs.](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/the-development-of-new-drugs-isnt-matching-the-pace-of-antibiotic-resistance>) More powerful drugs come with the potential for more powerful side effects or risks — as do current antibiotics.

The antibiotics we use today don't specifically target the harmful bacteria plaguing our bodies when we're ill. Instead, they attack both the good *and* bad bacteria. As this mechanism is uncontrolled, it has contributed to the increased development of infectious diseases that are immune to the treatments we have at present. Those drug-resistant infections and their sequelae are expected to [kill over 10 million people by 2050](<http://www.his.org.uk/files/4514/1829/6668/AMR_Review_Paper_-_Tackling_a_crisis_for_the_health_and_wealth_of_nations_1.pdf>) if left unchecked.

A French startup company called Eligo Bioscience aims to introduce a new kind of drug, Eligobiotics, that can attack bacteria in a more focused way. The company announced earlier this week it has [received $20 million in funding](<http://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/eligo-bioscience-secures-20-million-series-a-from-khosla-ventures-and-seventure-to-bring-precision-medicine-to-the-microbiome-300525473.html>) from Khosla Ventures and Seventure Partners, which includes a $2 million award from the Worldwide Innovation Challenge.

Eligobiotics would be designed to carry out specific rather than broad attacks: these could range from killing the harmful bacteria to turning it into a drug producer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=RzwAC87IHbw

"Antibiotics are weapons of mass destruction: extremely powerful but imprecise," said Eligo CEO Dr. Xavier Duportet in a statement. "With eligobiotics, we can precisely intervene on the microbiome – targeting specific bacteria for interventions of our choice. By engineering the microbiome itself with sniper-like precision, we can address the cause, not just the symptoms, of bacteria-associated diseases."

## Taking Advantage of CRISPR

Possibly the most attractive thing about Eligobiotics is how it uses CRISPR — the new method of gene editing — to scan the bacteria and delivery precise cuts to its genetic code to wipe it out completely. In the past, CRISPR has been [used to create crops](<https://futurism.com/geneticists-have-used-crispr-gene-editing-to-create-crops-that-grow-more-food>), [edit embryos](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/scientists-edit-embryos-with-crispr-to-better-understand-early-human-development>) to better understand human development, and could one day [cure sickle-cell disease](<https://futurism.com/neoscope/crispr-may-one-day-cure-sickle-cell-disease>).

If everything goes well — between trial in mice and eventual human trials — Eligobiotics could be taken as a pill instead of an injection.

"This is a bit futuristic, but eventually we envision having a pill that will clean your microbiome daily," Duportet said to *[Business Insider](<http://www.businessinsider.com/deadly-threat-antibiotic-resistance-startup-using-crispr-beat-it-2017-9?r=US&IR=T>)*. "It's the ultimate form of personalized medicine."

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/KyreeLeary>)