FDA advisers back microbiota-based treatment for gut infection

 A panel of Food and Drug Administration advisers gave their support to Rebiotix’s microbiota-based treatment for a type of intestinal infection, potentially putting it on track to become the first approved therapy of its kind in the U.S.

Members of the expert committee voted 13-4 that the treatment, called Rebyota, was effective in treating recurrent infections from Clostridioides difficile, or C. diff. The panel concluded its benefits, while modest, are significant enough for a long-suffering patient population with no other approved options when antibiotics fail to work.

The Minnesota-based biotechnology company made its case with six clinical studies, including two Phase 3 studies, that tested at least one dose of Rebyota in 978 patients. An analysis of the Phase 3 results showed Rebyota had a 70.6% success rate in preventing recurrent infection at eight weeks after one dose compared to a 57.5% success rate with placebo, or a 13.1% difference.

Additionally, the panel voted 12-4, with one abstaining, in favor of Rebyota’s safety profile. The advisers who voted “no” cited the higher number of side effects in treated patients compared to placebo.

“Were the harms that occurred to those patients justified by the improvement that the patients received?” asked panelist Jay Portnoy, a medical director at Children’s Mercy Hospital in Missouri who voted against Rebyota on both efficacy and safety. “These patients are desperate to get a treatment ... and the last thing I want to do is to subject them to a treatment that’s not effective,” he said.

The FDA isn’t required to follow the panel’s recommendations, but it typically does.

Several panelists were disappointed by the number of participants in the studies. Rebiotix said it found it difficult to recruit patients for its trials, some of whom preferred to turn to the unapproved use of fecal transplants rather than possibly receive a placebo in a clinical study.

The FDA has allowed the investigational use of fecal transplants since 2013 under its enforcement “discretion.” Panelists who spoke in support of Rebyota said it could provide a standardized and approved treatment that the agency would be better able to monitor for effectiveness and safety.

https://www.biopharmadive.com/news/fda-rebiotix-microbiome-c-diff-advisers-committee-vote/632489/