Bloom Science Launches from Exclusive UCLA Tech License

San Diego-based Bloom Science launched to develop epilepsy treatments based on a new class of neuroprotective drugs. The company, whose research was published in the journal Cell today, focuses on gut bacteria involved in the anti-seizure effects of the ketogenic diet.

The ketogenic diet was developed in the 1920s to treat epilepsy. In rare types of epilepsy, and in patients who don’t respond to other therapeutics, the diet has positive effects, but because it is low carbohydrate, high fat, compliance is usually a problem. Until recently, it wasn’t clear why the diet worked.

Elaine Hsiao, assistant professor in the Department of Integrative Biology and Physiology in the Life Sciences Division of the UCLA College, and the UCLA David Geffen School of Medicine, as well as co-founder of Bloom, is the senior author of the article, which shows in two preclinical mouse models that the diet increases the growth of certain but bacteria. These specific strains of bacteria are necessary to offer seizure protection. They regulate circulating metabolites that stimulate neurotransmitters in the brain, specifically gamma aminobutyric acid (GABA).

The company will focus on developing products from these bacteria that modulate GABA.

“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,” said Anthony Colasin, Bloom’s chief executive officer, in a statement. “New and better approaches to managing epilepsy are urgently needed. 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.”

The UCLA Technology Development Group has filed a patent on the technology and exclusively licensed it to Bloom.

Colasin is the co-founder, chief executive officer and director of Bloom. Prior to founding Bloom, he was chief business officer of Bionomics, and before that, vice president of Business Development for Ironwood Pharmaceuticals.

Christopher Reyes is the company’s co-founder, chief scientific officer and director. He is also the co-founder and director of Hove. From September 2012 to December 2015 he was vice president of Research and Development Biologics at Bionomics. Before that he was co-founder, chief scientific officer and director of Eclipse Therapeutics.

Hsiao said in a statement, “The human body is comprised of trillions of resident microbes that are important for normal biology, including brain health. The discovery has the potential to impact the many conditions that are associated with alterations in GABA and shown to be modified by the ketogenic diet, such as epilepsy, Alzheimer’s disease, Parkinson’s disease, autism, anxiety and schizophrenia.”

Bloom will be working in the booming area of microbiome research and development, working to develop drugs that exploit the effects of gut bacteria on various diseases. Other companies working in the area include Synthetic Biologics, Microbiota, Sciota Biosciences, and the University of California San Diego School of Medicine, which is running the American Gut Project, a crowdsourced project focused on the human microbiome.