British Columbia University has signed a licensing agreement with Commonsense for a treatment of asthma and other allergic conditions.
Commonsense, a subsidiary of biopharmaceutical company PureTech Health, today licensed research from British Columbia University (UBC) for a therapy to prevent asthma and other allergic diseases that present in childhood.
The technology consists of a live biotherapeutic product that relies on the microbiome. It is expected to complement Commonsense’s existing pipeline of therapeutic programs aimed at nurturing a healthy human gut early in life.
The technology was developed by Brett Finlay, professor of biochemistry and molecular biology at UBC, and co-founder and scientific advisory board member of Commonsense, and Stuart Turvey with the support of their colleagues.
They identified, through a longitudinal study, a transient imbalance of four bacterial rates (FLVR) in children who suffer from asthma, atopy, wheeze. When the imbalance was addressed, signs of respiratory diseases were reduced.
Commonsense expects to launch clinical trials sometime in 2019.
Joe Bolen, chief scientific officer of PureTech Health, said: “Nurturing a healthy microbiome early in life represents a novel strategy to significantly reduce the impact of chronic diseases like asthma, allergies, diabetes, and obesity.
“Brett’s work and contributions with FLVR build upon our arsenal of microbiome-derived therapeutics and may potentially impact childhood health in an important way.”