On October 23, 2026, Delaware-incorporated Precisio Biotix Therapeutics announced new funding from the Gates Foundation to develop a treatment for bacterial vaginosis (BV) built on engineered lysins. Lysins are bacteria-killing enzymes, and Precisio designs them to destroy specific bacteria rather than act as a broad antibiotic. The amount was not disclosed. Precisio says the grant builds on earlier Gates-funded research that found lysins with "strong activity against Gardnerella," the main bacterial driver of BV, and that it will move the best candidates "through preclinical development toward future clinical testing."

Why It Matters

BV sits on the line between consumer sexual wellness and prescription medicine. It's the condition behind much of the pH-balancing wash, probiotic gummy and "vaginal health" supplement market, much of which is [clinically thin](/stories/vagina-maxxing-trend-warning). It also raises susceptibility to STIs, which makes it a sexual-health issue as well as a gynecological one. Treatment is still mostly metronidazole or clindamycin, followed by recurrence. Melbourne's recent [partner-treatment work](/stories/monash-recurrent-bv-persistence-reinfection) showed that even treating both partners still fails about one woman in five. A therapy that kills *Gardnerella* in biofilms while sparing lactobacilli would reset this category, and the diagnostics side ([Evvy](/stories/evvy-series-b-40m-fertility), [Juno Bio](/stories/juno-bio-vaginal-microbiome-lab)) would gain a treatment to point patients toward. Gates money also lowers the risk for later investors in an indication that venture funding has usually avoided. Anything near pharmacy shelves is years off. In the meantime, brands selling "BV support" will be compared against a real drug pipeline, and that comparison will become harder to avoid.

The company is aiming at the biggest weakness of current BV care, which is recurrence. Its release cites estimates that BV affects 23–29% of women of reproductive age worldwide and comes back in 50–80% after antibiotic treatment. The reasons it gives are the usual ones. Gardnerella forms protective biofilms that antibiotics struggle to penetrate, resistance is rising, and standard drugs also kill the protective Lactobacillus species a healthy vaginal microbiome needs. Precisio says its proprietary Zeus-LysiThru™ platform tunes lysins for potency, stability and activity against biofilms, while sparing beneficial bacteria. "We are not simply developing another antibiotic," said VP of Discovery Dr. Mya Thandar. CEO Mark Engel described the goal as breaking "a frustrating cycle of antibiotics followed by recurrence."

This is early-stage science. Precisio has no clinical data in BV. Its most recent public milestone was in a different area: in July it used its Staph lysin ClyO under expanded access for a drug-resistant prosthetic-joint infection. The company also says it will focus on low cost of goods so a future therapy could reach women in low- and middle-income countries, which is a standard condition of Gates funding.

Sources

Update — 2026-10-24

Initial entry — story first created.