iNtRON Bio, Demonstrated Toxin-Neutralizing Effect of IMPA™ Phage Engineering Technology in Colorectal Cancer Model and Completed the US Patent Application

Korea Herald

3 days ago

• Successful validation of payloaded anti-colibactin toxin phage using IMPA ™ technology
• Demonstrated ' Dual-target Therapeutic Strategy ' by bacterial eradication and toxin neutralization
• Filed the US patent application for the candidate substance and preclinical studies including PoC underway
BOSTON and SEOUL, South Korea, Aug. 5, 2025 /PRNewswire/ -- Recently, a specific genotype of E. coli that may cause colorectal cancer has been detected in commonly eaten leafy vegetables such as lettuce, raising consumer concerns. Among these strains, pks+ E. coli is of particular concern. This bacterium produces a toxic substance in the intestine that causes DNA damage (ICLs, Interstrand Cross-Links), which leads to DSBs (Double Strand Breaks), and has been shown in numerous studies, including Nature (2023), to increase the risk of colorectal cancer over time.
Amid this situation, as an innovative bacteriophage technology development company, iNtRON Bio proposes a new possibility for microbiome-based anticancer drugs in treating colorectal cancer—considered a hard-to-treat disease—by applying our phage engineering technology called IMPA™.
iNtRON Bio has been developing PHAGERIA Ⓡ, an immunotherapeutic targeting gut bacteria, and through the IMPA™ phage engineering technology developed in-house, iNtRON Bio has secured a new drug candidate payloaded with a substance that effectively eliminates colibactin ,a major causative agent of colorectal cancer and have filed a related US patent application.
The phage engineering technology IMPA™ (Intelligent Modular Phage Assembly) was formerly known as the "robot bacteriophage." With the recent US patent application, it was named to clearly reflect the function as a technology for engineering modular phages (mock-up phages) that can carry therapeutic payloads.
This achievement is the result of combining transposon mutagenesis, CRISPR/Cas-based forward/reverse genetics, and AI-driven analysis capabilities to explore the possibility of delivering various functional payloads. In particular, it is highly significant that iNtRON Bio successfully loaded a payload targeting colibactin ,deeply involved in colorectal cancer, onto the surface of the phage and, for the first time globally, confirmed its effectiveness.
In other words, iNtRON Bio has demonstrated a dual-targeting therapeutic approach that not only eliminates pks+ E. coli, which is a main cause of colorectal cancer, but also neutralizes the toxin secreted by this bacterium. This includes verifying colibactin's role in cancer development, confirming the suppressive effect of modular phage on colorectal cancer, and proving the phage's colibactin-degrading ability—resulting in successful proof-of-concept studies and related patent acquisition.
Simply put, the core of this development is that a colibactin-degrading protein was applied as a payload on the phage's protein shell, known as the capsid. Like a precision-guided missile with a warhead, the engineered phage specifically infects pks+ E. coli, kills the bacteria, and at the same time removes the colibactin toxin already secreted by the bacterium using the enzyme carried in the capsid—offering a dual therapeutic effect.
Recently, the field of bacteriophage engineering is gaining attention globally. IMPA™ technology is not only a unique platform technology differentiated from other companies, but also serves as strong evidence that it can function as an actual drug delivery platform beyond simple research use.
It is encouraging that iNtRON Bio's research has overcome key limitations of conventional phage-based technologies, such as decreased payload activity and phage structural instability when therapeutic substances are loaded. By confirming that the payload retains its original function, iNtRON Bio has demonstrated that it has successfully overcome high technical hurdles.
The engineered phages are not merely for research purposes but were selected and validated through multiple tests with real-world and human applications in mind. iNtRON Bio has applied an advanced AI-driven optimization platform technology, refined it with great care, and plan to extend its application to other development fields for ongoing innovation.
This achievement is not only a remarkable advancement in phage engineering technology but will also become a driving force for discovering innovative microbiome drug candidates through integration with other phage-based platform technologies of iNtRON Bio. It will proceed smoothly with preclinical studies including proof-of-concept (PoC) testing for combination effects with existing colorectal cancer therapies. In addition, IMPA™ phage engineering technology will be applied more broadly to ADC drug development, anti-cancer agent, and vaccines, as iNtRON Bio continues to strengthen our global technological competitiveness in these fields.