CAMBRIDGE, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Seres Therapeutics, Inc. (NASDAQ:MCRB), a leading microbiome therapeutics platform company, and Emulate, Inc., a private company commercializing the Organs-on-Chips technology, today announced a new collaboration. Under the terms of the agreement, Seres and Emulate will work to further advance Emulate’s Intestine-Chip platform, a micro-engineered, living-tissue-based system that models the human intestine. Seres intends to use the technology to identify novel bacteria compositions with therapeutic potential.
“Emulate has developed a highly innovative technology platform consisting of multiple human cell types that may be far more accurate in recreating human gastrointestinal tissue and its interaction with the microbiome than conventional cell culture approaches,” said David Cook, Ph.D., Executive Vice President of R&D and Chief Scientific Officer of Seres. “We expect Emulate’s technology platform will enhance our approach for drug discovery and accelerate our efforts to identify promising new microbiome therapeutic candidates for inflammatory bowel disease, other autoimmune or immunological conditions, infectious diseases, and other serious disease states, which may have a microbiome therapeutic based solution.”
“We are extremely pleased to work with Seres, a leader in the development of microbiome therapeutics, and apply our Organs-on-Chips technology to enhance drug discovery in an emerging field, such as the microbiome,” said James Coon, Chief Executive Officer of Emulate. “The microbiome represents a critically important new area of medicine, and our ‘Intestine-Chip’ is remarkably well suited to evaluate complex biological mechanisms, such as the impact of bacterial compositions on the integrity of the gut barrier and mechanisms of healing in response to inflammation. By combining Emulate’s human-relevant Organs-on-Chips technology with the therapeutic expertise from biopharmaceutical leaders such as Seres, Emulate aims to meaningfully contribute to improving human health.”
About Seres Therapeutics
Seres Therapeutics, Inc. is a leading microbiome therapeutics platform company developing a novel class of biological drugs that are designed to treat disease by restoring the function of a dysbiotic microbiome, where the natural state of bacterial diversity and function is imbalanced. Seres’ most advanced program, SER-109, has successfully completed a Phase 1b/2 study demonstrating a clinical benefit in patients with recurring Clostridium difficile infection (CDI) and is currently being evaluated in a Phase 2 study in recurring CDI. The FDA has granted SER-109 Orphan Drug, as well as Breakthrough Therapy, designations. Seres’ second clinical candidate, SER-287, is being evaluated in a Phase 1b study in patients with mild-to-moderate ulcerative colitis (UC). Seres is also developing SER-262, the first ever synthetic microbiome therapeutic candidate, in a Phase 1b study in patients with primary CDI. For more information, please visit www.serestherapeutics.com. Follow us on Twitter @SeresTx.
About Emulate, Inc.
Emulate Inc. is a privately held company that creates living products for understanding how diseases, medicines, chemicals, and foods affect human health. Our Human Emulation System sets a new standard for recreating true-to-life human biology and is being used to advance product innovation, design, and safety across a range of applications including drug development, agriculture, cosmetics, food, and chemical-based consumer products. Emulate continues to develop a wide range of Organ-Chips and disease models through collaborations with industry partners and internal R&D programs. Emulate is also working with clinical partners to produce Organ-Chips personalized with an individual patient’s stem cells, for applications in precision medicine and personalized health. Our founding team pioneered the Organs-on-Chips technology at the Wyss Institute for Biologically Inspired Engineering at Harvard University. Emulate holds the worldwide exclusive license from Harvard University to a robust and broad intellectual property portfolio for the Organs-on-Chips technology and related systems.
About Inflammatory Bowel Disease
Inflammatory bowel disease is a group of inflammatory conditions with chronic or recurring immune response and inflammation of the gastrointestinal tract. The two most common inflammatory bowel diseases are ulcerative colitis and Crohn’s disease. Inflammation affects the entire digestive tract in Crohn’s disease and only the large intestine in ulcerative colitis. Both illnesses are characterized by an abnormal response of the body’s immune system.
