Radical Numbers, a San Francisco-based company, has administered an experimental treatment to a human patient using bacteriophages designed by its proprietary AI model, Omnii-1. This marks the first recorded instance of using AI-engineered viruses for human therapy.
The treatment was conducted under a compassionate use agreement, which permits the administration of unregistered drugs when standard medical options prove ineffective. The company has not disclosed the patient's identity or specific diagnosis.
The AI model, Omnii-1, is a multimodal genomic language model featuring a specialized application called Omnii Phage. In testing, this application successfully identified active bacteriophages against 92.1% of randomly selected E. Coli strains.
While the company reports that the phage cocktail successfully destroyed the patient's antibiotic-resistant strain in vitro, the clinical outcome for the patient remains unknown. Radical Numbers emphasizes that this single case does not confirm the general safety or efficacy of the method.
