The changing relationship between the gut microbiota and the human host throughout life offers a series of time windows for therapeutic intervention. At PHM we are turning the newest microbiome research into innovative therapies. We want to develop a breakthrough class of medicines with the potential to change the way we treat disease. We lead broad microbiome research across a range of therapeutic areas.
Disease focus area
Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Over 10 million people are living with IBD worldwide (over 3.4 million in Europe alone). It’s proven that the gut microbial unbalances are likely to contribute to disease severity. So that we are working on the solutions that will effectively balance the microbiome.
Diabetes
Gut microbiota interacts with various host sensing and signalling pathways, leading to a modulation of the endocrine system, immune responses, nervous system activity, and hence, the predisposition to metabolic diseases. Gut microbiota dysbiosis drives and implies new therapeutic strategies for diabetes and related metabolic diseases. Based on that we are developing a new class of supportive treatment.
Gestational diabetes
Gestational diabetes can cause problems for the mother and her baby during and after birth. As the research said, 1 in 7 births is affected by gestational diabetes. Complications to a mother include future diabetes, preeclampsia and eclampsia. To a baby, it is hypoglycemia or hyperinsulinemia, preterm and respiratory distress, overweight, type 2 diabetes, jaundice. The risk of these problems can be reduced if it’s early detected and managed well.
Cancer
Newest predictions said that 14 million people a year are diagnosed with cancer, but it is estimated that this number will increase to 19 million by 2025, 22 million by 2030 and 24 million by 2035. Worth to remember is that up to half of all cases could be prevented. All scientific findings reveal alterations in the microbiota that may contribute to the aetiology of cancer. The extension of those findings may lead to strategies able to manipulate microbiota to support the treatment, prevent disease as well as to identify individuals at high risk.
Asthma
Recent studies have demonstrated a role for the gut microbiome in influencing remote organs and mucosal and hematopoietic immune functions. By improving the understanding of the role of the microbiome in asthma, novel therapeutic strategies of modifying the microbiome may be developed. The effects of these therapies on the overall microbiome and consequently on disease severity and/or progression remain unknown and need to be properly understood to realize the full impact of these treatments.
Chronic Obstructive Pulmonary Disease
Although the microbial composition of the respiratory flora in COPD has been known through microbiome analyses, the involvement of the respiratory flora in the pathogenesis of the disease, and especially the role microorganisms considered non-pathogenic by culture-based microbiology, is practically unknown. We want to develop a treatment that will conserve the flora that acts as positive mutualist, as opposed to the respiratory pathogens that progressively replace it when COPD progresses to advanced disease.