Last week news was announced that the White House is announcing the launch of the National Microbiome Initiative (NMI). It’s an ambitious plan to better understand the microbes that live in humans, other animals, crops, soils, oceans, and more. These miniscule organisms are now attracting mammoth budgets: federal agencies are committing $121 million to the NMI over the next two years, while more than 100 universities, non-profits, and companies are chipping in another $400 million. That’s half a billion dollars.
DirectorsTalk caught up with Stephen OHara, CEO of OptiBiotix Health plc for his thoughts: ‘The announcement of a $500m commitment into research into the microbiome demonstrates the increasing interest from Governments and research institutes around the world into the potential of the microbiome to influence many aspect of our daily lives including the potential to prevent, manage, and treat human disease. With increasing research funding into this area we can anticipate further discoveries and opportunities across a wider range of diseases including cancers, autism, multiple sclerosis, Alzheimer’s disease, even tooth decay’.
OptiBiotix Health plc has established a pipeline of microbiome modulators that can impact on lipid and cholesterol management, energy harvest and appetite suppression. The development pipeline is fuelled by its proprietary OptiScreen® and OptiBiotic® platform technologies designed to identify metabolic pathways and compounds that impact on human physiology and bring potential health benefits. These platforms are applicable across a wider range of other human diseases.
