Af­ter big 2016 set­back, field of mi­cro­bio­me-based drugs gets in­jec­tion of promise with pos­i­tive sig­nal from Re­bi­otix piv­otal study

Sev­er­al years ago, as com­pa­nies cap­i­tal­iz­ing on sci­ence that sug­gests flush­ing ‘good’ gut bac­te­ria in­to the sys­tem can treat a pletho­ra of con­di­tions — from C. diff in­fec­tions to obe­si­ty — be­gan to gain trac­tion, the op­por­tu­ni­ties to har­ness the mi­cro­bio­me gar­nered fever­ish promise and gen­er­ous fund­ing. Then, in 2016, Seres Ther­a­peu­tics’ fail­ure in a mid-stage tri­al eval­u­at­ing its “crap­sule” — donor-de­rived processed fe­cal ma­te­r­i­al en­cap­su­lat­ed in a pill — de­railed the emerg­ing field, rel­e­gat­ing the mi­cro­bio­me from hero to ze­ro sta­tus.

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