The company plans to launch its first product in 2020 for the dietary management of Type 2 diabetes.
The microbiome, which plays a crucial role in many areas of human biology and disease, is an increasingly popular space for drug research. Bay Area-based Whole Biome is leaping into this space with $35 million in financing.
With a new Series B financing round that brings the company’s total funding to $57 million, Whole Biome, which was founded in 2012, is emerging from stealth mode with a range of microbiome interventions targeting a variety of diseases, including metabolic diseases. The company has put together a proprietary microbiome discovery platform that “identifies novel biochemical pathways and validates their potential for improving human health.” The company’s products are developed by applying scientific and clinical rigor to identify, hypothesize, test and measure novel strains and microbiome interventions, Whole Biome said in an announcement. Whole Biome is developing novel Live Synbiotics, which are combinations of bacterial strains and prebiotics. These Live Synbiotics target specific health conditions and provide the body the ability to naturally restore and improve one’s health, according to company data.
Whole Biome plans to use the funding from the Series B to advance commercialization of its first patented product, expand its discovery pipeline and scale clinical trials for their novel microbiome interventions.
Whole Biome’s first product it is planning to launch is for the dietary management of Type 2 diabetes. The company is eying 2020 for a launch. Whole Biome has conducted double-blinded, placebo-controlled, randomized clinical trials of its product that demonstrated significant reductions in HbA1c levels and blood glucose spikes without any product-related side effects, it announced. Data for those trials though has not been shared.
Colleen Cutcliffe, co-founder and chief executive officer of Whole Biome, said the company is able to use its platform to “unlock the complexity of the microbiome to identify specific mechanisms of actions to help naturally restore and improve one’s health.”
We’re at a unique point in time as the field of microbiome biology converges with enabling cutting-edge technologies and bioinformatics that will open up a whole new world of innovative health products,” Cutcliffe said in a statement.
The Series B financing round was led by Sequoia Capital with repeat participation from True Ventures, Khosla Ventures, Mayo Foundation, AME Cloud Ventures and others. Roelof Botha, partner at Sequoia and new board member for Whole Biome, said the company’s microbiome interventions have the potential to improve the course of many of the significant health issues facing people today.
