SASPiPhi Technology

SASPject, A Lethal Injection for Bacteria

SASPiPhi has developed a novel antibacterial platform technology, known as SASPject, which uses engineered bacteriophages to deliver a total-spectrum antibacterial protein (SASP) to selected, target bacteria. Originally conceived by SASPiPhi co-founder, Dr Heather Fairhead, SASPject technology meets the criteria for the ideal antimicrobial agent and offers additional unique benefits:

• SASPject has a completely novel mode of action which makes it effective against all bacteria, including those which are multi-drug resistant. Unlike conventional antibiotics, SASPjects can be targeted to the specific bacteria causing infections and do not upset the normal, healthy human flora.
• SASPject's active antibacterial ingredient, SASP, targets and inactivates the fundamental and crucial bacterial cell component, DNA. SASP is unaffected by mutations in the bacterial DNA, making resistance extremely unlikely to develop.
• SASPject activity is lethal and inevitable but does not cause immediate bacterial cell lysis, minimising the release of toxins and other inflammatory bacterial components.

In SASPject technology, phages are engineered to carry the gene encoding the SASP protein and it is these phages that form the antibacterial product. Once the phages target the selected pathogen, they bind to the bacteria and inject the SASP gene. The SASP gene directs the bacteria to produce the SASP protein, which then binds to and inactivates bacterial DNA. Functional DNA is crucial to cell survival, so once it is inactivated the bacterial cell cannot metabolise or reproduce. The bacteria immediately stop dividing, halting the spread of infection and allowing the immune system time to remove the bacteria from the body.