Ancilia, Inc - aka Ancilia Biosciences Inc - is harnessing the natural function of CRISPR to develop a new class of live biotherapeutics. The firm's approach is designed to provide immunity to viruses in the human microbiome, enabling development of best-in-class live biotherapeutics for a range of chronic diseases. The firm is tackling overcoming a potential obstacle to the success of live bacterial biotherapeutics (LBPs) designed to modulate the human microbiome—their failure to successfully combat the predatory viruses that make up half the microbiome. These viruses (known as phages) can infect commensal bacteria and underlie disease, and also compromise the therapeutic efficacy of LBPs.
