Arsanis Biosciences GMBH
Antibody cocktails against bacterial infection
This article was originally published in Start Up
Executive Summary
The classic approach to treating bacterial infection has been to “kill the bug.” But instead of seeking only to destroy bacteria, Arsanis Biosciences GMBH intends also to neutralize certain toxins, or virulence factors, released by bacteria. The start-up is preparing a mixture of monoclonal antibodies that it believes will help patients recover from severe infections by addressing the disease state at multiple levels. While the company intends for certain of its antibodies to make bacteria more visible to phagocytes, cells whose primary function is to chew up intruders, it expects other antibodies to mitigate inflammation that is a normal but ultimately unhelpful reaction to infection.