Ferring and Karolinska Institutet extend research collaboration on human microbiome

Biopharma group Ferring Pharmaceuticals and the Karolinska Institutet are expanding their five-year collaboration on exploring the potential of the human microbiome in reproductive medicine women’s health and gastroenterology.

The collaboration will involve six reproductive health clinical studies of 6,000 women and babies, as well as four gastroenterology studies to investigate how microbes operate in areas of high unmet need such as recurrent pregnancy loss, preterm birth and inflammatory bowel disease.

It’s estimated that 15 million babies are born preterm every year around the world with 1 million children dying each year due to related complications. More so, the rise in reproductive health and inflammatory bowel concerns means there is a need to increase understanding of their causes so potential new solutions can be developed.

Specialist expertise from Karolinska Institutet in early stage research, late-stage clinical microbiome company Rebiotix and Ferring’s therapeutic area and commercialisation capabilities will be brought together through the collaboration.

“The extension of this partnership presents an exciting research opportunity, bringing together unique capabilities of Ferring, Karolinska Institutet and Rebiotix across the clinical development continuum in the mircrobiome space,” said Lee Jones, founder, president and chief executive officer, Rebiotix. “This, together with Ferring’s significant experience in reproductive medicine and gastroenterology, offers the potential to drive future research and development for the next generation of microbiome treatments needed to help more people build healthy families and live better lives.”

“This innovative public-private partnership demonstrates our ongoing, shared commitment to investigating the human microbiome,” said Lars Engstrand, professor at Karolinska Institutet and director of the Center for Translational Microbiome Research. “It will support the expansion of Karolinska Institutet’s foundation of robust biological data and drive our understanding of the microbiome’s impact on important reproductive and gut health challenges.”