FlexiBiome SIGNED

Project "FlexiBiome" data sheet

The following table provides information about the project.

 Partnership

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 Project objective

PharmaBiome AG is an ETH Zurich spin-off company that was established in February 2015 after intense scientific interactions at ETH Zurich between highly qualified scientists and business professionals in the fields of biotechnology and gastroenterology. We envisioned a huge interest of the pharmaceutical industry in microbiome-based technologies.

Our primary target market focuses on patients suffering from recurrent Clostridium difficile infections (rCDI), which are usually a consequence of antibiotic use. Almost 900.000 cases of CDI in the EU and USA may occur each year bringing the acute-care direct costs of CDI to an estimated 4.5 billion € in 2008. The treatment consists of intestinal communities from faeces of healthy donors (Faecal Microbiota Therapy, FMT). However, FMT is not standardized as the contents that are present in the human stool vary from individual to individual and change over time. Moreover, there are safety concerns associated with FMT such as the transmission of the pathogenic microbes from improperly screened and handled stool. FMT is also associated with the need for a healthy donor in every case.

FlexiBiome will bring to the market a standardized therapeutic mixture of living intestinal bacteria as an alternative to FMT. Our innovation represents a safe (of a defined composition, clear mode of action), efficient (same functionality as FMT but using a controlled delivery), flexible (production is controlled, the product is storable and we will provide access to large markets) and targeted therapeutic to fight rCDI. Flexibiome will be 50 % cheaper than FMT therapy.