The mechanism of membrane insertion by rearrangement of the conserved domains 1–4 is likely to be the same for all CDCs. Therefore, compounds that interfere with refolding and membrane insertion of soluble monomers would prevent infection by Streptococcus pneumonia and other CDC-producing Gram-positive bacteria that attack human cells with similar pore-forming toxins. The 4.5 Å cryoEM structure of the PLY pore complex thus paves the way towards the design of new drugs that inhibit pore formation as a promising approach towards combatting infections by dangerous and wide-spread Gram-positive pathogens.