Novel gene editing CRISPR Guided Vector technology to replace antibiotic use in farm animal production

"Antibiotic overuse contributes to increasing the reservoir of resistant bacteria, resulting in increased human mortality (10million deaths a year globally by 2050), increased hospital stay lengths (20-30days), and estimates of global direct- and indirect- costs up to c.£77 trillion. Currently, no new antibiotics are under development and alternatives are ineffective. Consequently, animal production globally is under increasing pressure to reduce antibiotic use as resistance here enters the human food chain. However, limiting the availability of medical interventions to prevent and control animal disease on the farm is directly impacting global food security and food safety.

Therefore, there is a major unmet need for effective alternative treatments to antibiotics which are simple, cheap and more sustainable compared to current methods. This project seeks to develop the use of a novel gene editing technology to target a range of currently prevalent bacterial pathogens and deliver a 100% killing system. This will enable Folium, in collaboration with the University of Bristol and the Quadram Institute of Bioscience to establish a leading market position as the first company to formulate this specific genetic technology in to a product range for livestock treatment. The impact of this project would provide an initial cost avoidance to the livestock industry of c.£128million by offering an alternative to current treatment methods and reducing antibiotic resistance in the food supply chain, with potential to go on and transfer this technology to crop treatment applications, human health applications and manufacturing cleaning solutions."