4D Pharma plc (LON:DDDD), a pharmaceutical company leading the development of live biotherapeutics, today announced that the Company’s Chief Scientific Officer, Dr. Alex Stevenson, has spoken at the International Human Microbiome Consortium (IHMC) 2018 on the importance of function in the development of live biotherapeutics.
Dr. Alex Stevenson commented, “Ahead of World Microbiome Day, IHMC 2018 is an important event which brings together thought leaders from across industry and academia to discuss how we can translate microbiome science into new therapies for patients.”
He added “It has become increasingly clear that understanding bacterial function is of crucial importance in the development of effective live biotherapeutics. This was one of the founding principles of 4D pharma and we continue to lead the field, leveraging this understanding to advance our candidates through the clinic.”
The presentation, entitled “Live Biotherapeutics – Form Follows Function” highlights the historical development of other therapeutic classes, how the active components of complex mixtures have been isolated to create new types of drugs, and how we can learn from this in the development of live biotherapeutics.
Founded in February 2014, 4D Pharma Plc is a world leader in the development of live biotherapeutics, a novel and emerging class of drugs, defined by the FDA as biological products that contain a live organism, such as a bacteria, that is applicable to the prevention, treatment or cure of a disease. 4D has developed a proprietary platform that rationally identifies novel bacteria that have a precise and evolved therapeutic effect. All of 4D’s live biotherapeutic products are orally delivered single strains of bacteria that are naturally found in the healthy human gut. 4D has completed a phase I study in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and has recently completed dosing in a phase I study in Paediatric Crohn’s Disease. It currently has a pipeline of 13 pre-clinical programmes, covering disease areas such as cancer, poorly controlled asthma, autoimmune and CNS disease, and plans to commence four additional clinical studies in 2018.
About IHMC 2018
The 7th International Human Microbiome Consortium meeting, which takes place 26th – 28th June 2018 in Killarney, Ireland, is a world-renowned microbiome conference featuring leading representatives from industry and academia.
