The newly-launched UCLA spinout is targeting rare and treatment-resistant forms of epilepsy with an approach drawing on certain kinds of gut bacteria.
Bloom Science, a US-based epilepsy therapy spinout from University of California, Los Angeles (UCLA), launched last Thursday with a seed round of undisclosed size backed by unnamed industry investors.
Bloom has agreed an exclusive licence with UCLA Technology Development Group, the university’s tech transfer office, to develop a biotherapeutic product that mimics the seizure-checking effects of the ketogenic diet.
The high-fat, low-carbohydrate regimen has been used to combat rare and treatment-resistant forms of epilepsy since the 1920s. It works by putting the body into a metabolic state called ketosis, however patients on the diet sometimes struggle to adapt.
Bloom’s technology will focus on certain strains of gut bacteria in the human microbiome shown in pre-clinical trials to populate when ketogenic foods are absorbed, consequently boosting the activity of a neurotransmitter called gamma-aminobutyric acid.
The acid is responsible for counterbalancing another transmitter called glutamate often active during seizures.
The money will help start Bloom Science’s operations as it prepares for research and development.
Bloom has filed for an investigational new drug application with US regulator Food and Drug Administration (FDA). It also hopes to undertake proof-of-concept trial on patients of a ketogenic foodstuff that would attain an FDA exemption for being “generally regarded as safe.”
Anthony Colasin, chief executive of Bloom Science, said: “Despite the introduction of 20 new anti-epilepsy drugs in recent decades, a third of patients with epilepsy never achieve seizure control, and half of those who respond to treatment report negative side effects that limit compliance and negatively impact their quality of life.
“At Bloom we are addressing that need by hacking the ketogenic diet to identify microbes with therapeutic potential, and then leveraging a unique business model to develop those microbes as neuroprotective therapies for orphan epilepsy indications in an accelerated time frame.”
