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Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

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Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#91

Post by graemep »

_puk wrote: post #42

>> In early 2022 Krajmalnik-Brown and colleagues patented a specific bacterial formulation and spun-off a commercial company called Gut-Brain Axis Therapeutics. I was a little surprised to see this. So the university researchers use time and money from the university to make a discovery, extending on previous published research, and then patent it and start their own for-profit? Excuse my ignorance, but is that how i…

> So the university researchers use time and money from the university to make a discovery, extending on previous published research, and then patent it and start their own for-profit?

it happens all the time, and in many countries. Its quite common in the UK.

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#92

Post by huhkerrf »

Balgair wrote: post #85
tt_dev wrote: post #76

Title is a bit misleading. It’s not a fecal transplant. It’s tablets and powder (for the pitt-hopkins cases) of microbes from fecal donors. Consumes orally. More like fecal food?

What did you think a fecal transplant was?

I'm embarrassed to admit this, but I always assumed a fecal transplant went in the other door

EDIT: looks like I was right, it can be done that way: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Fecal_microbiota_transplant#Me...

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#93

Post by Aurornis »

Arodex wrote: post #11

>Editor's note: Readers often ask us for follow-ups on memorable stories. What has happened to this story over the years? This article was originally published in 2019 but it has been re-edited and updated with new information current as of April 7, 2025. Enjoy! Now that is something that should be done more often - especially in science journalism, but not only. We cruelly lack long-term vision - not only forward bu…

I agree about the updates. However, news sites like this one aren’t combing through research to find things to update. They’re responding to PR outreach from companies. Did you notice there isn’t actually a link to a new publication? It’s only quotes from the company. They’re repeating PR material, not updates on the research.

There’s a subtext here that isn’t immediately obvious without reading more from the company trying to commercialize this formula: Their small phase 2 trial is underway but results haven’t fully been released as far as I can tell. It appears they’re trying to do a PR push based on their early claims of positive results, before publishing everything. If anyone can find more details please correct me if I’m wrong.

This can be a little suspicious when companies do this because before the full results are available because it’s usually associated with a rushed push to drive investor interest at the time they think it’s most optimal. When the optimal PR push timing is before full results are released, it’s not a good signal that the results are on track to be great.

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#94

Post by ornornor »

_puk wrote: post #42

>> In early 2022 Krajmalnik-Brown and colleagues patented a specific bacterial formulation and spun-off a commercial company called Gut-Brain Axis Therapeutics. I was a little surprised to see this. So the university researchers use time and money from the university to make a discovery, extending on previous published research, and then patent it and start their own for-profit? Excuse my ignorance, but is that how i…

I think the university gets a cut. Kinda like how Gatorade is making I can’t remember which university incredible amounts of money for the last several decades.

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#96

Post by dahart »

ZoomZoomZoom wrote: post #29

Absolutely outrageous/hilarious clickbait title. It's not for autism but totally opposite.

That’s valid English. You take ibuprofen for headaches, or go to the hospital for a broken bone. Assuming the word ‘for’ means ‘causes’ is incorrect.

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#97

Post by senfiaj »

rossdavidh wrote: post #72
senfiaj wrote: post #65

I would still be cautious with such findings. Many autistic people are picky eaters, also some of them have issues with peristalsis. This might affect the microbiome as well. While it's plausible that it might help a subset of people, we should not overgeneralize since autism is a very heterogeneous condition, usually with pronounced genetic predisposition. Overall, it doesn't seem to be a cure.

True that, but it could be both cause and effect. There are reports that gut bacteria can induce depression, which benefits the bacteria because it sends more calorie-rich, highly processed food down the gullet (think ice cream binges when depressed). Not hard to believe that gut bacteria optimized for a particular kind of food could evolve the ability to induce their host to eat that food exclusively. It would have…

Maybe. IMHO there is also a microbiome hype train in the recent years. Most of these microbiome studies aren't considering a lot confounding factors. Here is a paper: https://www.cell.com/cell/fulltext/S0092-8674(21)01231-9 that found only very little evidence for association between ASD and gut microbiome.

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#98

Post by an0malous »

markgall wrote: post #87
_puk wrote: post #42

>> In early 2022 Krajmalnik-Brown and colleagues patented a specific bacterial formulation and spun-off a commercial company called Gut-Brain Axis Therapeutics. I was a little surprised to see this. So the university researchers use time and money from the university to make a discovery, extending on previous published research, and then patent it and start their own for-profit? Excuse my ignorance, but is that how i…

As others have said, very common. A famous example is Lyrica, which made an enormous amount of money for Northwestern, probably around $1 billion dollars. It played a not-insignificant role in the university's rise in the last 10-20 years. Universities love this and encourage it. Any big place will have an office of "technology transfer" or similar to help researchers make this happen.

The best part for NU is they didn’t even have to pay for the research, it was publicly funded:

> Pregabalin was discovered largely on the basis of publicly funded research at Northwestern University

https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/34493615/

Re: Fecal transplants for autism deliver success in clinical trials (2019)

#99

Post by dyauspitr »

Balgair wrote: post #85
tt_dev wrote: post #76

Title is a bit misleading. It’s not a fecal transplant. It’s tablets and powder (for the pitt-hopkins cases) of microbes from fecal donors. Consumes orally. More like fecal food?

What did you think a fecal transplant was?

It many times is just someone else’s poop put into your butt
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