Osel highlighted in BioCentury’s cover story “Community organizers”

BioCentury Reports on Efforts to Alter the Microbiome for Improved Health

Osel is featured in an informative new article published in BioCentury titled “Community Organizers.” The article delves into the rapidly expanding sector of companies aiming to alter a native microbiome for therapeutic purposes, noting that microbiome players raised more than $300 million in funding in 2015 alone, a dramatic increase over previous years.

The article focused in part on microbiome therapeutics companies like Osel that are aiming to use bacteria as a treatment for disrupted or dysfunctional microbiomes. We have been actively developing treatments for the microbiome for more than a decade; in 2003, Osel was among the first to receive FDA authorization to test a Live Bacterial Therapeutic. The article mentions our lead product candidate, LACTIN-V, which just entered a Phase 2b clinical study for preventing the recurrence of bacterial vaginosis following antibiotic therapy. Our Director of Product Development, Tom Parks, was interviewed for the article. As Parks noted, vaginal tissue has relatively little microbial diversity in healthy people, making it more straightforward to link a specific bacterial species to a specific function or phenotype.

LACTIN-V is a live biotherapeutic product containing a naturally occurring Lactobacillus strain that is part of the healthy vaginal microbiome. In our published Phase 1 and Phase 2a studies, it demonstrated safety and strong results in restoring healthy vaginal microbiota and preventing recurrence of important urogenital infections.