Finch Therapeutics Group, Inc., a clinical-stage microbiome therapeutics company, announced on 2/8/19 that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has granted Breakthrough Therapy Designation to investigational drug CP101 for the treatment of patients with recurrent Clostridium difficile (C. difficile) infection. Breakthrough Therapy Designation is intended to expedite the development and review of investigational therapeutics for serious or life-threatening conditions where preliminary clinical evidence indicates that the product may demonstrate a substantial improvement over existing therapies on one or more clinically significant endpoints.
Finch’s lead therapeutic candidate CP101 is designed to prevent recurrent C. difficile, a bacterial infection affecting over 500,000 patients each year and leading to an estimated 29,000 annual deaths. Recurrent C. difficile has been named an urgent public health threat by the Centers for Disease Control (CDC) and, with a high percentage of patients failing standard-of-care antibiotic treatment, presents a clear and urgent unmet medical need.
“We are thrilled that CP101 has been designated as a Breakthrough Therapy for recurrent C. difficile,” said Mark Smith, CEO of Finch. “CP101 is designed to break the cycles of infection by restoring the balance of the gut microbiome, an approach supported by numerous clinical studies and Finch’s extensive experience providing microbial treatments to patients suffering from C. difficile. This designation will accelerate our efforts to provide an effective therapy for patients living with this devastating infection, and we look forward to working closely with the FDA to advance that mission.”
Finch is actively enrolling patients with recurrent C. difficile in PRISM3, a randomized, placebo-controlled Phase II clinical study to assess the safety and efficacy of CP101. The study drug is an oral capsule that is administered in a single dose.
Finch also has a microbial therapy in development for ulcerative colitis, FIN-524.
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