Global Shaper 2015: PharmaBiome, new therapies for antibiotic resistance
29.11.2017
This summer we asked you to vote for your favorite of our supported startups from the past 10 years: those that you felt had the power to change the world. We announced our Global Shapers at our 10 year anniversary event on 29th November and will update you with them on our website throughout December.
 PharmaBiome (Photo: Pep Shot AG)
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NEW THERAPIES FOR ANTIBIOTIC RESISTANT BACTERIAL INFECTIONS
Increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance has made intestinal infections such as Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) unresponsive to standard antibiotic treatment and thus life threatening. This constantly increasing burden has an estimated cost of €4.5bn in the developed world alone. Fecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) is currently the only life-saving therapy for antibiotic-resistant, recurrent CDI with reported success rates of over 90% throughout the world. This experimental therapy involves the transplantation of feces from a healthy donor to the infected patient, thereby restoring the intestinal mi¬crobiome (a.k.a microflora) of the patient and sup¬pressing the growth of the disease-causing bacterium, C. difficile.
The success of FMT has delivered long expected proof that intestinal microbes can successfully be used as therapeutics, paving the way for a new field of modern medicine. However, the use of fecal material harbors the risk of transmission of detrimental microbes or viruses. Furthermore, the microbiome has been linked to a multitude of conditions including chronic intestinal inflammations and metabolic dis¬orders, that are currently poorly understood and could lead to unexpected adverse reactions within the patient.
MICROBIOTA THERAPY, THE NEW STANDARD FOR THE TREATMENT OF INTESTINAL DISEASES
Despite the success of FMT, the development of de¬fined bacterial products to replace this experimental procedure is currently limited by a lack of ability to cultivate most health-promoting gut bacteria and missing biotechnological processes to produce such products that not only consist of sensitive bacteria but are mixes thereof.
PharmaBiome has developed a technology platform for the isolation, characterization and cultivation of intestinal bacteria, the fundamental building blocks for successful development of intestinal therapeutics. Through in-depth knowledge of the individual microbes, PharmaBiome has assembled a defined set of bacteria combining the key functions of a healthy intestinal microbiome. This lead product represents an alternative to the use of fecal material in the treatment of CDI, replacing the experimental FMT with a controlled, reproducible and safe treatment.
Microbiome therapeutics targeting CDI had an estimated market value of $200-400m in 2015, already reflecting the potential of microbiome-based therapies that is predicted to be worth over $1.2bn by 2030. Founded in 2015 as a spin-off of ETH Zurich, and having already filed their first patent, PharmaBiome is well on its way to becoming a high-powered player in this market. In fact the team does not plan to stop at C. difficile, there are a multitude of micro¬biome-related diseases that are still waiting for an adequate and safe therapy, opening the company up to a predicted market of USD 4.2 bn by 2022.
BUILDING AN EXTENSIVE PORTFOLIO
In 2017 PharmaBiome filed its first patent, closed a pre-seed round and was nominated in the TOP 100 Startups for the second time. PharmaBiome also won the Venture Kick final last year and was part of the venture leaders Life Science program in 2016. PharmaBiome CEO Tomas de Wouters adds: “Venture Kick has accelerated our venture by giving us the key ingredients and network to successfully develop an innovative startup company.”
See what people are saying on Twitter using the hashtags #10YVentureKick for our anniversary and #VentureKickGS for our Global Shapers
Increasing prevalence of antibiotic resistance has made intestinal infections such as Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) unresponsive to standard antibiotic treatment and thus life threatening. This constantly increasing burden has an estimated cost of €4.5bn in the developed world alone. Fecal Microbiota Transplant (FMT) is currently the only life-saving therapy for antibiotic-resistant, recurrent CDI with reported success rates of over 90% throughout the world. This experimental therapy involves the transplantation of feces from a healthy donor to the infected patient, thereby restoring the intestinal mi¬crobiome (a.k.a microflora) of the patient and sup¬pressing the growth of the disease-causing bacterium, C. difficile.
The success of FMT has delivered long expected proof that intestinal microbes can successfully be used as therapeutics, paving the way for a new field of modern medicine. However, the use of fecal material harbors the risk of transmission of detrimental microbes or viruses. Furthermore, the microbiome has been linked to a multitude of conditions including chronic intestinal inflammations and metabolic dis¬orders, that are currently poorly understood and could lead to unexpected adverse reactions within the patient.
MICROBIOTA THERAPY, THE NEW STANDARD FOR THE TREATMENT OF INTESTINAL DISEASES
Despite the success of FMT, the development of de¬fined bacterial products to replace this experimental procedure is currently limited by a lack of ability to cultivate most health-promoting gut bacteria and missing biotechnological processes to produce such products that not only consist of sensitive bacteria but are mixes thereof.
PharmaBiome has developed a technology platform for the isolation, characterization and cultivation of intestinal bacteria, the fundamental building blocks for successful development of intestinal therapeutics. Through in-depth knowledge of the individual microbes, PharmaBiome has assembled a defined set of bacteria combining the key functions of a healthy intestinal microbiome. This lead product represents an alternative to the use of fecal material in the treatment of CDI, replacing the experimental FMT with a controlled, reproducible and safe treatment.
Microbiome therapeutics targeting CDI had an estimated market value of $200-400m in 2015, already reflecting the potential of microbiome-based therapies that is predicted to be worth over $1.2bn by 2030. Founded in 2015 as a spin-off of ETH Zurich, and having already filed their first patent, PharmaBiome is well on its way to becoming a high-powered player in this market. In fact the team does not plan to stop at C. difficile, there are a multitude of micro¬biome-related diseases that are still waiting for an adequate and safe therapy, opening the company up to a predicted market of USD 4.2 bn by 2022.
BUILDING AN EXTENSIVE PORTFOLIO
In 2017 PharmaBiome filed its first patent, closed a pre-seed round and was nominated in the TOP 100 Startups for the second time. PharmaBiome also won the Venture Kick final last year and was part of the venture leaders Life Science program in 2016. PharmaBiome CEO Tomas de Wouters adds: “Venture Kick has accelerated our venture by giving us the key ingredients and network to successfully develop an innovative startup company.”
See what people are saying on Twitter using the hashtags #10YVentureKick for our anniversary and #VentureKickGS for our Global Shapers