Nestle’s health arm to buy first-ever fecal transplant pill

(Reuters) -Nestle Health Science will buy the rights to Seres Therapeutics (NASDAQ:)’ Vowst, the companies said on Thursday, gaining access to the first ever pill alternative to fecal transplants for a deadly infection.

Nestle’s unit will pay an undisclosed payment to Massachusetts-based Seres, and the drug maker will also receive capital infusions, the companies said.

Vowst fits within Nestle Health Science’s expertise, Moreno Perugini, president of medical nutrition at the latter, said in a statement, as its pharma business focuses on gastrointestinal diseases.

The treatment was approved in the United States last year to prevent the recurrence of Clostridioides difficile infections in adults, generally caused by the prolonged use of antibiotics, which can lead to potentially fatal diarrhea and inflammation of the colon.

Before the approval, patients were generally treated with fecal microbiota transplants.

The pill, Vowst, has a certain kind of bacteria made by purifying fecal matter derived from healthy people.

The drug competes with Switzerland-based Ferring Pharmaceuticals’ fecal transplant-based therapy, which is delivered through an enema.

Seres reported net sales of $10.1 million for the drug in the first quarter of 2024.

Seres entered into a deal with Nestle’s unit in 2021 to jointly commercialize the drug in the United States.