Last month over 160 attendees joined together in Lille, France for the 9th annual Pharmabiotics Conference & Partnering event organized by PRI and I-Squared Communications. The 2024 edition focused on the theme of ‘An Evolving Regulatory Landscape for Microbiome-based Medicinal Products’ and brought together research and translation from all along the microbiome product development continuum.
Opened by PRI President Sandrine Claus, the conference was organized along the microbiome product research and development spectrum, beginning with Fundamental Science, to Discover & Preclinical Research, Clinical Research presentations, an Innovation Showcase, and finally the core topic of the PRI mission; Microbiome Regulatory Science Considerations & Updates.
PRI President Sandrine Claus, the Executive Committee, Board of Directors and the PRI Staff would like to warmly thank the Sponsors, the Attendees, all of the Speakers, the Advisory Committee, and the Conference Operations team led by Nick Gallo at I-Squared Communications Ltd for a great event.
Pharmacomicrobiomics – drug-microbiota interactions
The Conference Keynote Session was chaired and opened by Dr. Michael Zimmerman of EMBL Heidelberg, whose presentation was titled ‘Identifying Gut Microbiota Contributions to Drug Metabolism and Toxicity’.
He was joined by Patrick Jimonet, of the MEDICEN pharma cluster from Paris, who continued the session presenting a collaborative effort which led to a publication on the topic: ‘Gut Microbiome Integration in Drug Discovery and Development of Small Molecules‘. Following Patrick’s presentation, Mara Lucchetti from the University of Luxembourg presented, ‘Emulating the Gut-Liver Axis: Dissecting the Microbiome’s Effect on Drug Metabolism Using Multi-organ-on-chip Models. And finally Fabio Grassi (Chairman of MV Biotherapeutics) presented; ‘Secretory IgA Amplification to Improve Gut Fitness in Cancer Immunotherapy’.
Microbiome Regulatory Science Updates – Session chaired by Yolanda Sanz
The 3rd day of the Conference focused heavily on regulatory science insights, with presentations from Dr. Chrysi Sergaki, MHRA Microbiome Group Leader who presented ‘Regulatory Science to Accelerate Market Access’, and Dr. Elisa Pettenati, EFSA Scientific Officer who presented ‘EFSA Risk Assessment of Microorganisms Intentionally Added to the Food Chain’.
Following that Prof. Emmanuelle Maguin from INRAE in France presented work done during the European Project Human Microbiome Action (https://humanmicrobiomeaction.eu/), ‘Maximising the Impact of European Microbiome Research and Innovation by Ensuring Coherence and Harmony in the Way Microbiome Research is and Will be Performed’. And finally the PRI’s Executive Director Dr. Céline Druart presented ‘Developments in the European Regulatory Landscape: Understanding the Impact of the New SoHO Regulation on Microbiome Innovations’, which detailed the latest information on the upcoming revision to the regulatory framework on Substances of Human Origin.
Key Talks & Takeaways from 2024 Pharmabiotics Conference & Partnering
Early stage research is as innovative as ever
- Catherine Daniel from the Institut Pasteur Lille presented research on employing gut bioengineered models to study host-microbiome direct interactions.
- Julia Rode from Örebro University presented work on a novel humanised gut-brain axis model.
- Stephen Smith from the University of York presented, ‘Interpretable ‘White Box’ Machine Learning for Biomedical Applications’.
- Simone Guglielmetti from the University of Milan shared insights into gamma irradiation for the preparation of non-viable microbial biomasses.
- Falk Hildebrand from the Quadram Institue and Earlham Institute discussed how enterosignatures allow for generalized classification of abnormal gut microbiomes.
- Mathias Chamalliard (Institute Pasteur Lille/INSERM) presented ‘Remote Control of Immune Surveillance by the Gut Microbiota’.
- The Innovation Showcase included Alexandre Tronel from Pelican Health, and Ilke de Boeck from the University of Antwerp.
Discovery & Preclinical research updates from…
- Hervé Blottière, Scientific Director at MetaGenoPolis/INRAE and Co-founder and Scientific Advisor of NovoBiome presented, ‘In Vitro Approach to Study Microbiota-host Interaction in Health and Diseases
- Ostaizka Aizpurua Arrieta from the University of Copenhagen presented, ‘Novel Insights into Host-Microbiota Interactions via Gut-on-a-Chip’
- Professor Sang Sun Yoon and CEO of BioMe Inc. presented, ‘BM109, A First-in-Class Microbiome Therapeutic for TMAO-lowering Therapy: Implications for Treatment of Cardiovascular Disorder and Chronic Kidney Disease’
- Pedro Correia de Sampaio, Co-Founder and CEO of Neobe Therapeutics presented, ‘Enabling Immunotherapy Responses in Solid Tumours Through Live Biotherapeutics’
Microbiome clinical studies are diverse and progressing
- PRI Board Member and Lallemand Vice President of R&D Sylvie Binda presented the MOM Study: ‘Pioneering a New Probiotic Formula to Support a Healthy Pregnancy and the Newborn Health’.
- Clinical readouts and R&D updates were shared by Katja Conrath (MRM Health), Sin-Hyeog Im (ImmunoBiome), Travis Whitfill (Azitra), Philippe Langella (Exeliom Biosciences) and Evelina Vågesjö (ILYA Pharma).
- Shiri Meshner of Biomica presented alongside her company’s manufacturing partner Biose Industrie (Claire Derlot, CBO) to share her biotech’s experience taking their multi-strain live biotherapeutic product (LBP) into the clinic.
- Jelle Klein, Medical Director at SGS Quay Pharma, presented, ‘Start-up Clinical Development of Microbiome-based Therapeutic Products’.
- Jean-Paul Pirnay of the Queen Astrid Military Hospital presented a retrospective study of the first 100 patients treated with phage therapy.
