The Biopôle-based startup and EPFL spin out will use the funds to develop PhageMatch™, an AI powered platform that helps clinicians identify phages in partnership with University of Geneva (UNIGE) and University Hospital of Geneva (HUG).

Antimicrobial resistance (AMR) is often described as the new cancer: left unchecked, it is projected to cause 10 million deaths annually by 2050. Bacteriophages, viruses that target specific harmful bacteria while preserving the rest of the microbiome, offer a promising alternative to antibiotics. Yet finding the right phage for a given patient is still a largely manual process that can take up to 50 days. The problem is that around 80% of AMR cases are acute or sub-acute, leaving clinicians without the time such a process requires.

Precise Health SA has officially kicked off an Innosuisse Innovation Project, worth approximately CHF 900,000, in partnership with the University of Geneva and the Geneva University Hospitals (HUG). The project builds on PhageMatch™, the company’s AI-powered platform designed to help researchers and clinicians identify and access promising bacteriophage candidates.

Today, PhageMatch™ uses whole genome sequencing to identify and prioritise phage candidates from a curated network of collections. However, generating genomic data can still take weeks in many hospitals, time that clinicians treating acute or sub-acute resistant infections simply don’t have.

The new Innosuisse project will explore how rapid bacterial characterisation combined with AI-driven phage matching can dramatically shorten this timeline, helping doctors source the right phages when time matters most. If no suitable match exists, the platform can also support the digital design of new phages.

The project brings together leading expertise from the University of Geneva and HUG, including Prof. Jacques Schrenzel and Dr. Patrice François, with the Precise Health team led by Dr. José Santos overseeing implementation.

The initiative follows a strong year for PhageMatch™, which recently won the Best Innovation Award at Phage Therapy 2025. By connecting clinicians to global phage biobanks through a single platform and cutting out lengthy manual searches, Precise Health aims to make life-saving phage treatments faster and more accessible, offering new hope in the fight against drug-resistant infections.