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.
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.
BOSTON – The gut microbiome and its prospects for drug development have been matters of debate for a while, sharpened by the high-profile phase II failure of Seres Therapeutics Inc.'s candidate, SER-109, in the summer of 2016. A panel at Biopharm America surveyed the space in light of developments since the stumble with that candidate, composed of about 50 species of firmicutes spores derived from stool specimens from healthy donors, against recurrent Clostridium difficile infection.
