Seres Therapeutics Announces Initiation of a Phase 1b Clinical Trial of SER-262 for Primary Clostridium difficile Infection
- First ever clinical study of a synthetic microbiome therapeutic -
SER-262, an oral capsule, contains a consortium of twelve bacterial strains in spore form. The strains included in SER-262 were selected based on multiple criteria including analysis of human microbiome data, efficacy in animal models of CDI, and bacterial strain level characterization.1 The composition of SER-262 was selected among Seres’ field-leading human microbiome library containing over 14,000 well-characterized strains of bacteria.
The SER-262 Phase 1b study, a 24-week randomized, placebo-controlled, dose escalation study is expected to enroll approximately 60 patients who have experienced a first episode of CDI. The primary endpoint of the study will compare the CDI recurrence rate between the SER-262 and placebo groups at up to 8 weeks after dosing. Approximately 640,000 and 820,000 individuals in U.S. each year experience a primary occurrence of CDI, and about 25 percent will suffer from a subsequent recurrence.
“Advancing SER-262 to the clinic is a landmark event for Seres and the microbiome field in general. The SER-262 program has demonstrated our ability to rapidly develop a new class of synthetic microbiome therapeutics comprised of rationally designed bacterial compositions,” said Roger Pomerantz, M.D., President, Chief Executive Officer and Chairman of Seres. “We intend to continue to utilize our platform technology and unique knowledge of bioinformatics, microbiology, manufacturing and regulatory requirements to develop additional rationally designed microbiome therapeutics for serious diseases in each of our three therapeutic franchises: infectious disease, immunology and metabolic disease.
With the initiation of the SER-262 Phase 1b study in primary CDI, and the ongoing SER-109 Phase 2 study in multiply recurrent CDI, Seres now has ongoing microbiome clinical programs across the entire CDI population. Initial study results from the SER-109 Phase 2 study are expected in mid-2016.
About Seres Therapeutics
About Clostridium Difficile infection
Clostridium Difficile infection
(CDI) is one of the top three most urgent antibiotic-resistant bacterial
threats in the U.S., according to the Centers for Disease Control. CDI
is a rapidly growing problem associated with antibiotic use. It is a
leading cause of hospital acquired infection in the U.S. and is
responsible for the death of approximately 29,000 Americans each year.
The incidence of first occurrence is between approximately 640,000 and
820,000 patients per year in the U.S., and approximately 85,000 to
110,000 CDI patients in the U.S. have more than one recurrence each year.
Reference:
1Wortman JR et al., Design
and Evaluation of SER-262: A Fermentation-Derived Microbiome Therapeutic
for the Prevention of Recurrence in Patients with Primary Clostridium
difficile Infection; poster at ASM Microbe 2016.
Forward-looking Statements
This press release contains forward-looking statements within the meaning of the Private Securities Litigation Reform Act of 1995. All statements contained in this press release that do not relate to matters of historical fact should be considered forward-looking statements, including without limitation statements regarding the potential of SER-262 to treat CDI and fundamentally change the management of CDI, and ability to develop additional rationally designed microbiome therapeutics for certain diseases.
These forward-looking statements are based on management’s current
expectations. These statements are neither promises nor guarantees, but
involve known and unknown risks, uncertainties and other important
factors that may cause our actual results, performance or achievements
to be materially different from any future results, performance or
achievements expressed or implied by the forward-looking statements,
including, but not limited to, the following: we have incurred
significant losses, are not currently profitable and may never become
profitable; our need for additional funding, which may not be available;
our limited operating history; the unpredictable nature of our
development efforts for marketable drugs; the unproven approach to
therapeutic intervention of our microbiome therapeutics; the lengthy and
expensive process of clinical drug development, which has an uncertain
outcome; potential delays in enrollment of patients which could affect
the receipt of necessary regulatory approvals; potential delays in
regulatory approval, which would impact the ability to commercialize our
product candidates and affect our ability to generate revenue; our
reliance on third parties to conduct our clinical trials and the
potential for those third parties to not perform satisfactorily; our
reliance on third parties to manufacture our product candidates, which
may delay, prevent or impair our development and commercialization
efforts; our lack of experience in manufacturing our product candidates;
potential competition from biosimilars; failure to obtain marketing
approval internationally; post-marketing restrictions or withdrawal from
the market; anti-kickback, fraud, abuse, and other healthcare laws and
regulations exposing us to potential criminal sanctions; protection of
our proprietary technology; protection of the confidentiality of our
trade secrets; changes in
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Source:
PR & IR Contact:
Seres
Therapeutics
Carlo Tanzi, Ph.D., 617-203-3467
Head of Investor
Relations and Corporate Communications
Ctanzi@serestherapeutics.com