CosmosID® Announces Microbiome Partnership with Locus Biosciences to Provide Long-Term Clinical Trial Support

GERMANTOWN, Md. and MORRISVILLE, N.C., June 21, 2022 /PRNewswire/ -- CosmosID®, a leading microbial genomics company focused on standardized, high-resolution microbiome analysis, and Locus Biosciences, Inc. ("Locus"), a clinical-stage biotechnology company developing a new class of precision engineered bacteriophage treatments for a diverse set of bacterial diseases, today announced a partnership for long-term support for Locus' clinical trial initiatives. CosmosID, based in Germantown, MD, and Stockholm, Sweden, provides CLIA-certified, GCP-compliant laboratory services for the microbiome field based on standardized and validated metagenomics assays and industry-leading bioinformatics.

Locus is developing two innovative categories of biotherapeutics to address significant unmet medical needs: precision CRISPR-enhanced bacteriophage (crPhage®) products to fight deadly infections, including those caused by multi-drug resistant bacteria; and engineered bacteriophage therapies that utilize bacteria resident in specific locations in the body to deliver therapeutic molecules. By combining discovery automation, synthetic biology, industry-leading informatics and sophisticated in-house manufacturing, Locus is able to rapidly identify, characterize, engineer and manufacture bacteriophage products against bacterial targets implicated in the pathogenesis of many diseases.

CosmosID's infrastructure for providing access to robust, compliant and higher resolution microbiome analysis results will allow Locus to add further insight and capability into its precision therapeutics platform. Using shotgun metagenomics, CosmosID will help Locus understand the efficacy of its products through the highest resolution microbiome analysis, starting with its urinary tract infection clinical program.

"We're thrilled to partner with Locus on its groundbreaking clinical pipeline as we help the company better understand the impact of these phages on the microbiome," said Manoj Dadlani, CEO of CosmosID. "Locus' robust and diligent approach to this study is much needed in the field and we look forward to helping them build a strong clinical data package."

"The importance of maintaining a healthy microbiome is now widely accepted in medicine," said Paul Garofolo, CEO of Locus Biosciences. "This partnership with CosmosID will allow Locus to monitor microbiome changes upon treatment of patients with antibiotics and with crPhage, helping us to evaluate the impact of preserving and protecting their microflora while clearing their infections."

CosmosID provides end-to-end solutions unlocking the microbiome. A provider of CLIA-certified & ICH-GCP compliant NGS Services and Bioinformatics Solutions, CosmosID offers a range of validated and optimized workflows for a range of applications including pharmaceutical R&D, infectious disease diagnostics, environmental testing, microbiome research, animal health, cosmetics & personal care as well as many more.CosmosID also offers independently validated, industry-leading pipelines for processing metagenomic data, yielding multi-kingdom, strain-level resolution with leading sensitivity and precision as well as functional characterization.For more information, visit www.cosmosid.com.

Locus Biosciences is creating a new class of precision biotherapeutics with clinical-stage, engineered bacteriophage treatments for a diverse set of bacterial and microbiome/inflammatory diseases. A world-leading bacteriophage discovery, synthetic biology, and manufacturing platform powers the company. Locus engineers bacteriophage – naturally occurring viruses that target bacteria – to: 1) kill pathogenic bacteria, while sparing good bacteria, through programmable, precision anti-bacterials with CRISPR-Cas3; and 2) utilize bacteria resident in the body to deliver therapeutic molecules to reduce inflammation or induce other biotherapeutic effects. Its artificial intelligence and machine-learning based discovery engine is targeting bacteria across therapeutic areas including infectious disease, immunology, and oncology. Multiple non-dilutive strategic partnerships validate the company's platform and programs. These include anti-bacterial alliances with Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) for its lead Phase 2/3 asset; and Combatting Antibiotic Resistant Bacteria Accelerator (CARB-X). For more on the Research Triangle Park, N.C.-based company, visit www.locus-bio.com.

MEDIA CONTACTS

For CosmosID®: 
Manoj Dadlani 
CosmosID® 
CEO 
[email protected] 
7039959879

For Locus Biosciences: 
Heather Anderson 
6 Degrees 
[email protected]

SOURCE CosmosID