Microbiotica

UK-based Microbiotica is a microbiome-focused drug discovery and development company that develops treatments for inflammatory bowel disease (IBD), gut epithelial barrier (intestine) repair, and cancers that affect the immune system. The firm’s patented technology, which uses advanced bioinformatics and machine learning tools, is based on gut bacterial isolation. It leverages its gut bacterial reference genome database to discover and develop microbiome-based therapeutics. The company claims to have the largest microbiome culture collection and reference genome database.

The company’s pipeline includes four Live Bacterial Therapeutics (LBT), which are groups of precision-based naturally occurring, safe bacteria, administered orally in a capsule. Its lead drug programs, MB097 and MB310, are in Phase 1b clinical studies. MB097 is based on a microbiome signature that predicts a cancer patient’s response to immune checkpoint inhibitors, while MB310 was developed to treat ulcerative colitis (chronic inflammatory bowel disease). It also has two treatments in the discovery stage. Microbiotica, spun out of Wellcome Sanger Institute, is collaborating with Cancer Research UK and Cambridge University Hospitals in immuno-oncology, and the University of Adelaide in ulcerative colitis.

The company’s latest funding round took place in March 2022, where it raised GBP 50 million (USD 66 million) in a Series B funding round co-led by Tencent and Flerie Invest. It is said to be the largest microbiome-related financing in Europe. The funds were earmarked to advance its lead drug programs and expand its pipeline of treatments to other therapeutic areas.