Mining The Microbiome: Are Gut Microbes The Next Big Source Of Drugs?

There is growing interest in the gut microbiome as a source of new therapies across a wide range of diseases. Although it is still an emerging field, pharmaceutical firms and other investors are engaging, with more expected to follow.

Much of modern medicine since the Middle Ages was born out of the fight against harmful bacteria – the so-called germ theory of disease. Now, though, a growing number of scientists believe bacteria may be the source of an entire new generation of therapeutics. They’re looking at the trillions of (mostly friendly) microorganisms, including over 1,000 bacterial species, found in the human gut.

The collective gene sequences of these bacteria, known as the microbiome, have over the last few years generated a flurry of fascinating data on the huge role played by these bacteria and their by-products in health, as well as across a wide range of diseases. These conditions aren’t limited to acute bacterial infections such as hospital-acquired Clostridium difficile – though microbiome work is generating some important new candidates for this unmet need

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