The proximity of the anus to the genitals, Freud tells us, is the source of much if not all human neurosis. It’s fashionable to distance oneself from Freud these days, to say “I would not go that far” and “of course Freud was sex-obsessed”. But I would go that far, and most humans are sex-obsessed.
The gut, frankly, is a problem. What it does is not only mysterious and puzzling, as are all our internal organs, but also difficult for us to bear. And when we start to think about the symbolism of the gut, we might understand what Freud meant.
Founded in February 2014, 4D Pharma (LON:DDDD) is a world leader in the development of live biotherapeutics, a novel and emerging class of drugs, defined by the FDA as biological products that contain a live organism, such as a bacteria, that is applicable to the prevention, treatment or cure of a disease. 4D has developed a proprietary platform that rationally identifies novel bacteria that have a precise and evolved therapeutic effect. All of 4D’s live biotherapeutic products are orally delivered single strains of bacteria that are naturally found in the healthy human gut. 4D has completed a phase I study in Irritable Bowel Syndrome and has completed dosing in a phase I study in Paediatric Crohn’s Disease. It currently has a pipeline of 13 pre-clinical programmes, covering disease areas such as cancer, poorly controlled asthma, autoimmune and CNS disease, and plans to commence four additional clinical studies in 2018.
