DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences has announced a collaboration with MRM Health, a biopharma focused on the discovery and development of therapeutics based on the human microbiome. MRM has also confirmed the successful completion of its first external investment round.
DuPont and MRM Health will join forces to tackle a range of metabolic diseases, in which the proprietary MRM technology platform and some selected DuPont strains will be combined to develop novel therapeutics based on live bacterial strain combinations.
“Combining MRM Health’s unique technology platform with DuPont knowledge and experience provides a unique opportunity to accelerate the discovery and development of new therapeutic products in areas such as metabolic health,” said Sebastien Guery, Human Microbiome Venture Leader at DuPont Nutrition & Biosciences.
MRM has raised more than €14 million ($15m) from Ackermans & van Haaren, DuPont, MRM Technologies, Qbic II and VIB.
The proceeds of the investment round provide MRM with the financing resources to advance its lead programme in inflammatory bowel disease (IBD) to clinical studies in different patient populations and to further progress its ongoing discovery programmes to deliver potential breakthrough treatments in Spondyloarthritis and other indications.
Through the strategic partnership with VIB, MRM will leverage the extensive complementary microbiome and bioinformatics capabilities of the lab of Professor Jeroen Raes, VIB – KU Leuven and the multidisciplinary know-how and patient insights in arthritis and inflammatory diseases of Professor Dirk Elewaut, VIB – UGent and his team.
MRM Health was incorporated by MRM Technologies through a partial de-merger of the operations of ProDigest, a global specialist in the field of intestinal and microbiome research, allowing ProDigest to continue and further expand its independent and unique scientific research services to clients across sectors from pharmaceutical, food and feed industry.
These activities are based on ProDigest’s SHIME technology (Simulator of the Human Intestinal Microbial Ecosystem, unique laboratory models of the human and animal gastrointestinal tract) which can be used to simulate the metabolism and biodistribution of pharmaceuticals in development, as well as the interaction of the intestinal microbiome with pharmaceuticals, food ingredients, animal feed and health products.