Da Volterra has achieved impressive early results with its antibiotic resistance-busting medical device by successfully protecting the diversity of the microbiome.
French biotech Da Volterra is developing products to fight the rapidly rising rates of antibiotic resistance. During a Phase I study, the company’s medical device, DAV132, was used with the antibiotic, moxifloxacin, and successfully protected the intestinal microbiota from antibiotic residues. Overall, the product managed to reduce exposure of the microbiota to the antibiotic by 99% and maintain 97.8% of the microbiome’s genetic richness without affecting the drugs therapeutic efficacy.
DAV132 is co-administered with antibiotics to prevent C. difficile infections, which can be fatal. DAV132 is inactive in the upper gastrointestinal tract but acts as a ‘sponge’ in the colon, soaking up the antibiotic before it can disrupt the microbiota. Last September, the biotech received a €20M loan from the European Investment Bank to speed up the development of its products, which seems to have been effective in boosting its clinical work.
Elsewhere in the field, Motif Bio is developing a new Gram-positive bacteria killer, Immunocore received funding from the Bill & Melinda Gates Foundation to transfer its cancer technology across to infectious diseases, and researchers at Queen’s University Belfast are developing a skin patch that will avoid the delivery of drugs into the gut by sending them straight into the bloodstream.
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