Microbiome R&D: gut conviction that microbes can help humanity

The pandemic has made us acutely conscious of viral threats. But lethal invaders are outnumbered by the benign bugs we host. Research into this human “microbiome” is producing multiple investment opportunities in medicine. In agriculture, the focus is on soil organisms. The advent of low-cost DNA sequencing is fuelling breakthroughs in both sectors.

The excitement is not about overhyped probiotic food supplements. That $1bn-plus market will expand at a mid-single-digit pace, says Barclays. The real action should be in a new generation of fast-growing, disruptive products.

Trillions of microbes in the human microbiome assist us with processes ranging from digestion to immune responses. The connection between the gut and brain function has focused attention on autism and Parkinson’s disease. Auto-immune diseases and skin conditions are also in the frame.

There are plenty of promising ideas, but no approved drugs so far. Research into the microbiome has received $7.4bn of funding, just a third of investment in genomics in the two decades to March 2020, according to McKinsey.

A treatment to combat drug-resistant superbug C. difficile is one of the most advanced. Boston-based Seres Therapeutics, in which Nestlé has a 10 per cent stake, has announced promising phase 3 trial results for a treatment using “friendly” bacteria.

Seres’s product could be a blockbuster with peak US sales of $1.5bn, says Chris Howerton of Jefferies. If an ulcerative colitis drug comes through, Seres’s $2bn market value could double. Meanwhile, Massachusetts-based Finch Therapeutics, which is also targeting C difficile, raised $128m in a March flotation.

Big pharma is watching closely. Pfizer recently invested $25m in Vedanta Biosciences of the US to fund an inflammatory bowel disease study. GlaxoSmithKline has inked a research agreement with Paris-based Eligo Bioscience for a microbiome-linked treatment for acne. GSK has a longer-running collaboration with Seattle-based Viome to explore vaccine-based therapies.

In agriculture, the microbials market could double to more than $10bn by 2025. Soil microbes could protect and nourish crops more sustainably than synthetic fertilisers. Much of the innovation is from start-ups such as Pivot Bio of California and Boston-based Joyn Bio.

There are more false starts and dead ends in science than great leaps forward. However, gene sequencing, once dismissed as a disappointing technology, proved key to developing coronavirus vaccines. Microbial treatments also have potential to deliver impressive results, and with them big returns.

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