Investigators at the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases have identified physiological factors that are not diseases in the narrow sense, but that nevertheless have large effects on microbiome composition.
Federation Bio Inc., which just closed a $50 million series A, had enough preclinical data in engineering bacteria to drive the immune system up or down that it actually could have become two separate companies, its new CEO told BioWorld.
DUBLIN – Finch Therapeutics Inc. closed a $90 million series D round to take its oral microbiome therapy, CP-101, into late-stage clinical development and registration in chronic Clostridioides difficile infection and to move two additional programs, for chronic hepatitis B virus infection and autistic spectrum disorder, into the clinic.
Mark Wilcox, professor of medical microbiology at the University of Leeds, said Seres Therapeutics Inc.’s top-line phase III data with oral microbiome therapeutic SER-109 against recurrent Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) are “about as good as it gets” in the tough-to-treat patient population.
LONDON – Enterome SA has raised €46.3 million (US$52.6 million) in a mixture of debt and equity, enabling it to take a new type of cancer vaccine, based on microbiome-derived antigens that mimic neoantigens expressed on tumor cells, into the clinic.
DUBLIN – Top-line data from a phase II pivotal trial of CP-101, Finch Therapeutics Group Inc.’s oral microbiome therapy for chronic Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI), are technically good, but how good is the big question.
Rebiotix Inc. said RBX-2660, its standardized, non-antibiotic, microbiome-based therapy designed to reduce Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection recurrences, notched positive preliminary results on the primary efficacy endpoint of its ongoing pivotal phase III trial.
Second Genome Inc. (SG) CEO Karim Dabbagh said his firm’s deal with Gilead Sciences Inc. is “pretty significant, given some of the other deals in the microbiome and inflammatory bowel disease [IBD] space,” telling BioWorld the potential $1.5 billion-plus agreement involves “biomarkers in multiple disease areas on five of Gilead’s portfolio programs in inflammation, fibrosis and oncology. Associated with that is a drug discovery collaboration around five targets in the context of IBD.”
DUBLIN – Bio-Europe Spring’s virtual panel on the partnering dynamic between big pharma and microbiome-focused biotech firms was essentially an in-house webinar hosted by Seventure Partners, a Paris-based venture capital fund that has led the way in investing in microbiome-related therapeutics, diagnostics and other products.
Novome Biotechnologies Inc., a startup developing a hyperoxaluria therapy based on controlled colonization of the gut with engineered bacteria, has landed a $33 million series A financing and appointed former Achaogen Inc. chief Blake Wise as CEO.
