In a significant advancement for AI-driven pharmaceutical research, Precisio Biotix Therapeutics announced on June 16, 2025, that it has secured funding from the Gates Foundation to accelerate its innovative antimicrobial discovery platform.
The Delaware-based biotechnology company will leverage its proprietary AI/ML-guided Zeus™-LysiThru™ platform technologies to discover engineered lysins with superior activity against bacterial vaginosis (BV) pathogens. Lysins represent a promising new family of enzymes that function as cell wall hydrolase-based antimicrobials, offering precision targeting without inducing bacterial resistance—a critical advantage over conventional antibiotics.
"We will utilize the grant to discover therapeutics that kill BV associated bacteria with the aim to promote stable Lactobacillus-dominant microbiomes linked to lower rates of HIV and STDs, and fewer prenatal issues including pre-term births," stated Mark Engel, Precisio's Founder and CEO. The funding specifically supports the discovery of optimized and validated lead lysins against critical BV pathogens by the end of 2025, setting the stage for clinical development.
The company's approach combines two powerful platforms: LysiThru™, a high-throughput screening system, and Zeus™, a pioneering endolysin design platform acquired through Precisio's March 2024 acquisition of UK-based CC Bio. Dr. Mya Thandar, Director of Zeus™-LysiThru™, emphasized that their bioinformatics, machine-learning, and AI tools leverage high-throughput screening methodologies designed to facilitate low production costs—a crucial factor for accessibility in low- and middle-income countries.
This grant highlights the growing importance of AI in addressing the global antimicrobial resistance crisis, which the World Health Organization has identified as a major public health threat. With conventional antibiotic development being slow, expensive, and yielding few novel treatments (only 18 new antibiotics approved since 2014), AI-powered approaches like Precisio's could dramatically reduce the time and cost of discovering effective antimicrobial compounds.
The company's technology represents a shift in antimicrobial development toward more targeted, resistance-proof biologicals that can be produced affordably for global distribution, potentially transforming how we combat drug-resistant infections worldwide.