7 February 2020 - - Switzerland-based microbiome company Rebiotix, a Ferring company, has completed enrollment of the pivotal Phase 3 clinical trial for RBX2660, an investigational therapy aimed at breaking the cycle of recurrent Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection, which is responsible for the deaths of thousands of people in the US alone, the company said.

The Centers for Disease Control and Prevention has classified C. diff as an urgent public health threat, with limited options for treatment.

RBX2660 was developed under Rebiotix's investigational microbiota-based MRT drug platform with the goal of delivering standardised, stabilized formulations to meet unmet medical needs.

Conducted in the US and Canada, this is the first Phase 3 trial of its kind to be completed using a broad consortia microbiota-based formulation.

The Phase 3 trial builds on the company's extensive history with the formulation, including several hundred participants previously enrolled in multiple Phase 2 clinical trials.

The data collected over the course of the company's multi-year clinical development programme will be eventually presented to the US FDA as part of a Biological License Application.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals, also with a rich and vast history of microbiome research of its own, led the industry by becoming the first major pharmaceutical company to acquire a microbiome therapeutics company in April 2018.

Headquartered in Saint-Prex, Switzerland, Ferring is expected to have the first regulatory approved microbiota-based therapeutic in the world through the potential approval of the RBX2660 in the US.

Clostridioides difficile (also known as C. diff) is a bacterium that causes diarrhea and colitis (an inflammation of the colon).

C. diff, impacts nearly a half a m people each year in the United States; of those impacted, up to one in five patients will experience a recurrent episode.

In 2019, the US Centers for Disease Control listed C. diff as an urgent threat to public health.

RBX2660 is currently in Phase 3 clinical development for the reduction of recurrent Clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infection. RBX2660 has been granted Fast Track, Orphan, and Breakthrough Therapy Status designations from the US FDA.

Rebiotix Inc., part of the Ferring Pharmaceuticals Group, is a late-stage clinical microbiome company focused on harnessing the power of the human microbiome to revolutionize the treatment of challenging diseases.

Rebiotix has a diverse pipeline of investigational drug products built on its pioneering microbiota-based MRT drug platform.

The platform consists of investigational drug technologies designed to potentially rehabilitate the human microbiome by delivering a broad consortium of live microbes into a patient's intestinal tract.

Ferring Pharmaceuticals is a research-driven, specialty biopharmaceutical group committed to helping people around the world build families and live better lives.

Headquartered in Saint-Prex, Switzerland, Ferring is in reproductive medicine and maternal health, and in specialty areas within gastroenterology and urology.

Founded in 1950, privately-owned Ferring now employs approximately 6,500 people worldwide, has its own operating subsidiaries in nearly 60 countries and markets its products in 110 countries.