The microbiome is experiencing increasing scrutiny for its role in disease, and the number of new research reports describing microbiome-disease relationships is growing exponentially. Researchers are increasingly working to translate the emerging fundamental science into microbiome medicines that will address important unmet needs in the clinic. We summarise the types of microbiome medicines that have the most translational potential, and provide a detailed analysis of the current global microbiome medicines pipeline and the challenges facing clinical translation. The regulatory pipeline is currently dominated by probiotics intended for oral delivery to the gastrointestinal (GI) tract; however, several non-living biologics and small molecules provide notable exceptions. With the first microbiome medicine set to begin the regulatory submission process in 2022, it is an exciting time for the field.
Keywords: biotechnology; drug discovery and development; dysbiosis; microbiota; peptide therapeutics; postbiotics.
Copyright © 2022. Published by Elsevier Ltd.