Locus Biosciences (Locus) is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company based in Morrisville (Research Triangle Park), North Carolina, founded in 2015 as an NCSU spin‑out. It develops CRISPR-Cas3–enhanced bacteriophage therapies (“crPhage”) targeting drug-resistant bacterial infections. Its lead candidate, LBP‑EC01, delivered by a phage cocktail that lyses bacteria while irreversibly degrading their DNA, has completed a Phase 1b randomized, placebo‑controlled trial demonstrating safety and tolerability and has progressed to the Phase 2 ELIMINATE trial—Part 1 delivered positive open-label results and Part 2 is now underway with BARDA funding. Locus also has programs in development targeting Klebsiella pneumoniae, Pseudomonas aeruginosa, and Staphylococcus aureus, and broader microbiome‑related indications such as inflammatory bowel disease.
History
Locus Biosciences was founded in 2015 and based in Research Triangle Park (RTP), North Carolina.[1] Locus developed an AI-enabled precision medicine platform, enabling the company to develop engineered bacteriophage (phage) therapies[2] that are designed to selectively remove particular pathogenic bacterial species from the body while leaving other non-target bacteria unaffected. Locus is advancing products to treat