Beyond Fecal Microbiota Transplantation: Developing Drugs from the Microbiome

Abstract

The transfer of live gut microbes may transform patient care across a range of autoimmune, metabolic, hepatic, and infectious diseases. One early approach, fecal microbiota transplantation, has shown promise in Clostridiodes difficile infection and the potential for improving clinical and public health outcomes for other antibiotic-resistant bacteria. These clinical successes have motivated the development of microbiome drugs, which will need to address challenges in safety, uniformity, and delivery while seeking to preserve the benefits of using whole microbiome communities as novel therapeutics and an innovative platform for drug discovery.