Seek Labs Publishes First Peer-Reviewed Paper Demonstrating A CRISPR-Based Therapeutic Is Effective Against African Swine Fever

SALT LAKE CITY--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seek Labs, a biotechnology company boldly seeking a healthier world through AI-powered discovery, programmable therapeutics, and point-of-care diagnostics, today announced the publication of a peer-reviewed paper in Viruses (MDPI), revealing the first successful use of a CRISPR-based therapeutic to treat African Swine Fever Virus (ASFV) in pigs. The findings demonstrate the company’s proprietary CRISPR-based therapeutic successfully reduced viremia, enabling recovery and protective immunity in animals infected with a lethal dose of the disease.

Read the full study, “The First CRISPR-Based Therapeutic (SL_1.52) for African Swine Fever Is Effective in Swine,” in Viruses: https://www.mdpi.com/1999-4915/17/11/1504.

The study details how Seek Labs’ SL_1.52 therapeutic, built on the company’s Programmable Target Ablation Platform (PTAP™), uses CRISPR/Cas9 with two guide RNAs to precisely target and disrupt a highly conserved ASFV gene essential for viral replication, which was delivered to infected pigs via lipid nanoparticles. SL_1.52 achieved 57% survival and viral clearance in blood within 35 days and lasting protective immunity after re-challenge. These findings represent the first demonstration of Seek Labs’ programmable CRISPR therapeutic treating a viral infection in a natural host. Together, these outcomes validate the company’s PTAP platform as a foundation for a rapid, adaptable antiviral modality across animal and human health.

“Our study provides in vivo evidence that CRISPR can function as a direct antiviral against African Swine Fever Virus,” said Dr. Douglas Gladue, Vice President of Veterinary Therapeutics at Seek Labs. “By targeting a highly conserved viral polymerase essential for replication, we achieved significant viral reduction and survival in infected swine, which establishes a foundation for developing programmable CRISPR therapeutics as a practical intervention for ASF and other high-consequence viral diseases.”

African Swine Fever (ASF) is one of the most devastating diseases affecting global pork production, with mortality rates reaching up to 100% in infected herds. ASFV continues to cause outbreaks across Europe, Asia, and the Caribbean. Just recently, Taiwan reported its first outbreak, demonstrating ASFV is actively spreading into new countries. Continued outbreaks in new and endemic countries threaten food security and agricultural economies. The peer-reviewed results from Seek Labs provide compelling evidence that programmable CRISPR-based therapeutics could become a new line of defense against viral outbreaks like ASF, helping safeguard and bolster global food systems.

About Seek Labs

At Seek Labs, we don’t wait for change—we build it. We’re pursuing the breakthroughs the world can’t wait for by developing programmable “seek-and-destroy” therapeutics and point-of-care molecular diagnostics that close the gap between outbreak and intervention. At the core of this mission is a layered architecture: BioSeeker™ serves as the Intelligence Layer, continuously mapping conserved viral vulnerabilities in real time; these insights activate our Deployment Layers (PTAP™ for programmable therapeutics and SeekIt™ for molecular diagnostics), forming a full-stack development engine designed to accelerate response, innovation, and impact across global health.

Headquartered in Salt Lake City, Seek Labs is a proud member of BioHive, Utah’s collaborative life sciences ecosystem. Together with our partners, we’re building faster, smarter solutions for the world’s most urgent health challenges.