MEDIA RELEASE
8 Novemeber 2023
• BiomeBank’s Good Manufacturing Practice (GMP) manufacturing facility officially opens in Adelaide’s biomedical precinct.
• The facility has been purpose built to scale BiomeBank’s breakthrough cultured microbiome therapies and meet global demand for BiomeBank’s approved donor derived microbiome drug product.
• Development follows world first regulatory approval and $10 AUD Million capital raise in October last year.
• Research & Development laboratory also included in new build to continue innovation.
WATCH: Founders @SamCostello and @RobBryant explain why they are so excited by the facility and the fact it will allow BiomeBank to increase its production capacity, as well as scale up Consortiomeâ„¢, our breakthrough cultured human microbiome.Â
BiomeBank today announced the opening of its new GMP manufacturing facility designed to increase global supply of its approved donor derived microbiome-based therapy and further develop its second-generation therapies.
The new facility located in the heart of Adelaide’s biomedical precinct has been designed to facilitate local collaboration and foster innovation within South Australia’s growing biomedical sector. In addition to the GMP facility, BiomeBank has also added a new Research and Development laboratory and office space to support its growth.
Microbiome-based therapies are transforming the treatment of chronic disease globally and BiomeBank is leading the charge with its approved first-in-class microbiome-based therapy.
This facility will support our expansion in delivering this treatment to other regions to meet global demand. The Research and Development lab will also help to progress our promising pipeline of second-generation products.
We are incredibly proud to have a state-of-the-art facility in the heart of Adelaide. Australia has many advantages including first class biotechnology researchers and a fantastic health care system that supports research and development as well as clinical trials. We are part of an expanding and rapidly developing biotechnology scene that is now capitalising on the strengths that Australia has. Which is incredibly exciting.
This facility will allow us to further develop and scale our Consortiome TM, which is an artificial cultured human microbiome created in a bioreactor. This breakthrough technology has the potential to provide broad replacement of human gut microbes at scale to treat a number of common diseases.
Our first therapy developed from this platform will enter clinical trials for patients with ulcerative colitis in 2024. Having the right tools and environment to continue developing our therapies has been critical for us to fulfill our mission to develop therapies to restore human gut microbial ecology. This facility comes after a productive 12 months where we received the first regulatory approval of a microbiome therapy worldwide, an important milestone for our industry, the local South Australian community and of course the patients whom we serve.
BiomeBank announced multiple partnerships with leading research organisations. Including research collaborations with the Hudson Institute of Medical Research and RMIT university for microbiome drug discovery and the supply of the approved product to support of the Microbial Restoration in Inflammatory Bowel Disease (MIRO) study, the world’s first pivotal trial demonstrating microbiome restoration in the treatment of Crohn’s disease in collaboration with St Vincent’s Hospital Melbourne and The Queen Elizabeth Hospital in Adelaide.
In addition to the new purpose-built facility, the company has grown its initial staff from 18 to 32 with further growth forecast for 2024.
BiomeBank was founded in 2018 by gastroenterologists Dr Sam Costello, Assoc Prof Rob Bryant and infectious diseases physician Dr Emily Tucker and microbiome scientist Dr Sam Forster in collaboration with The Hospital Research Foundation with the aim of commercialising the first donor derived microbiome therapy in the world and developing a cultured, scalable version of a healthy human gut microbiota.
Background:
BiomeBank is a clinical stage biotechnology company developing a pipeline of microbiome-based therapies to treat unmet medical need. BiomeBank’s mission is to treat and prevent disease by restoring gut microbial ecology.
Backed by a world-leading team of translational microbiome experts, BiomeBank’s platform uses a unique combination of machine learning and microbiology to identify bacterial strains which influence disease, leading to the discovery and development of new therapies.
Media contact:
Amy Boyce
M: +61 449 553 990
E: media@biomebank.com
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