Taking advantage of the billions of microorganisms that inhabit the human gut, biopharmaceutical companies are increasingly developing drugs based on human feces.

French biotech company Maat Pharma has built a new plant in the Lyon region of southern France, focused exclusively on producing drugs based on microbiota (a group of microorganisms) found in feces.

The goal is to improve the lives of cancer patients and their response to immunotherapy by restoring microbiota damaged by intensive treatment.

The plant is working on a drug called MaaT013, currently in late-stage clinical trials, to treat the rare disease of rejection that occurs after stem cell transplantation for blood cancer. The disease can lead to death.

The first trial results are expected in mid-2024, but the drug is already available in a number of European countries for people who need it urgently.

Maat Pharma expects to sell 9,000 doses of the drug per year.

How is the medicine produced?

A pharmaceutical company receives excrement in a chamber pot provided by a waste collection company in the Nantes region.

Faecal material arrives at the plant by train and truck in cryogenic boxes stored at 5°C and is processed within a maximum of 72 hours of release.

The goal of the drug is to improve the lives of cancer patients and their response to immunotherapy. – Photo: Pixabay/Divulgação/ND

The goal is to mix donor feces to produce what’s called “essential bone marrow,” a rich and diverse microbiota that is then reintroduced to hospital patients through the rectum, like an enema, to recolonize their digestive system and restore the altered microbiota.

Poop donors for medicine

Of the 3,000 volunteers who filled out the faecal donation form, “only 30 met the criteria for good digestion and mental health,” explains Cécile Billat-Nys, responsible for production at the factory, remembering that there is a link between mental health and microbiota. “It’s like donating blood, but a little more advanced,” he notes.

To receive compensation, donors recruited through social media and college campuses in the weeks leading up to production must submit to “blood tests every 60 days and a daily stool test” as funds are raised.

“25 pathogen parameters are tested in the faeces,” explains Caroline Schwintner, director of technology development at Maat Pharma.

The traceability, consistency and appearance of the biological material are also analyzed and then a diluent is added to protect bacteria during freezing.

The substance is distributed into bags, placed in an incubator at a temperature of 5°C and then frozen.

The pharmaceutical company is also exploring the possibility of encapsulating the drug (MaaT033) to improve survival in patients with blood cancer and Charcot’s disease.

Other French biotech companies are interested in this new therapeutic horizon.

Exeliom Biosciences is developing a drug that takes advantage of the anti-inflammatory properties of Faecalibacterium prausnitzii, considered the “star bacteria of the gut.”