Health · Medical Research · 4 hrs ago
AI-designed bacteriophages given to patient with drug-resistant infection
Radical Numerics says it gave AI-designed viruses to a patient with an antibiotic-resistant infection.
The San Francisco lab says the patient had an E. coli infection that resisted antibiotics and all available phages, viruses that infect bacteria rather than human cells.
Phage therapy has been used for more than a century, but matching a phage to a patient's specific bacteria can be difficult.
The company says its model changed a T7 phage's targeting component, and the resulting viruses killed bacteria isolated from the patient's infection in laboratory tests.
The treatment was given under an FDA-authorized compassionate-use pathway, but the company has not shared the patient's clinical course or outcome.
The results have not been published or peer-reviewed, so it is not yet clear whether the treatment helped.
The case could point to a new way to target resistant infections, but the patient's outcome and further evidence remain unknown.
Radical Numerics says its AI-designed bacteriophages were administered to a patient with an antibiotic-resistant infection.
The treatment was given under a physician-led compassionate-use pathway authorized by the FDA.
The company says the patient’s E. coli infection had resisted antibiotics and every available phage.
It reports that the designed phage cocktail eliminated bacteria from the patient’s infection in laboratory testing.
The patient’s clinical course and outcome have not been disclosed, and the results have not been published or peer-reviewed.
- Who
- Radical Numerics designed the bacteriophages, which were given to a patient with a drug-resistant infection.
- What
- AI-designed bacteriophages were administered as treatment. The company says the cocktail eliminated the patient’s bacterial isolate in laboratory testing.
- When
- October 2026.
- Where
- Not stated. The company is based in San Francisco.
- Why
- The patient had an E. coli infection that reportedly resisted antibiotics and every available phage.
This story does not have two clearly opposing sides.
Earlier work by the team behind Evo and Evo 2 generated candidate phage genomes, some of which produced viable viruses.
Radical Numerics announced that its AI-designed bacteriophages had been administered to a patient.
The company tested the designed cocktail against bacteria isolated from the patient’s infection and said it eliminated the isolate in vitro.
- Company
- Radical Numerics
- Model
- Omnii-1
- Treatment
- AI-designed bacteriophages targeting a drug-resistant E. coli infection
- Authorization
- FDA-authorized physician-led compassionate-use pathway
- Testing
- The company said the cocktail eliminated the patient’s bacterial isolate in vitro
- Disclosure
- Clinical course and outcome not disclosed; results not published or peer-reviewed