Poop Transplants and Microbiome Makeovers

 

“When I talk to Smith, he seems relieved that I don’t want to talk about how he is paying people for their poop (that story’s been done, and done, and done.) I wanted to talk about where the poop was going. Because OpenBiome isn’t just sending raw material for C. diff patients: For investigators who have applied for and received the FDA’s approval, it’s also assisting in a growing number of clinical trials for many other kinds of diseases. A U.S. government database of current clinical trials around the world lists 82 results for “fecal matter transplant” related to conditions as diverse as liver disease, metabolic syndrome and obesity, HIV, Crohn’s disease, pancreatitis, and Type 2 diabetes.

‘I think there’s a lot of hype in this space. A lot of people look at the success that we have had for C. difficile, and think it will work 90% of the time for more complicated conditions. But if even a fraction of the hype is true—and I think it probably will be—then that’s going to have a huge impact,’ says Smith.”