“Allogeneic hematopoietic stem cell transplantation can be a highly effective approach to treat serious cancers, however, the process results in a high risk of complications, including infections and graft-versus-host disease,” said Marcel van den Brink, M.D., Ph.D., Head, Division of Hematologic Malignancies at Memorial Sloan Kettering Cancer Center (MSK). “Microbiome therapeutics have the potential to address underlying mechanisms that may be involved in many of the issues faced during allo-HSCT. These encouraging initial SER-155 results, particularly the very low levels of gastrointestinal pathogen domination observed, provide support for the promise of these approaches to lead to important clinical benefits.”
Enrollment of Cohort 2 is ongoing, incorporating a randomized, double-blinded placebo-controlled design to further evaluate safety, drug strain engraftment, and incidence of gastrointestinal ESKAPE pathogen domination, as well as the incidence of enteric infections, enteric driven blood stream infections and GvHD. Cohort 2 will enroll approximately 60 subjects administered either SER-155 or placebo at a 1:1 ratio. The Company anticipates obtaining top-line placebo-controlled day-100 data from study Cohort 2 in mid-2024.
Seres believes that the medical benefit and commercial potential for SER-155 is substantial. Nearly 30,000 allo-HSCT procedures are performed in the U.S. and Europe per year.4 Complications are frequent and costly, with additional costs for patients with complications averaging approximately $180,000/year.5,6 Infections and GvHD are estimated to result in nearly half of mortality associated with allo-HSCT.4 With the exception of an exclusive license from MSK, Seres fully owns worldwide rights for commercialization of SER-155. In addition to SER-155, the Company is evaluating other microbiome therapeutic preclinical programs for additional medically compromised patient populations who are at risk of life-threatening infections.
Conference Call Information
Seres’ management will host a conference call today, May 9, 2023, at 8:30 a.m. ET to discuss Q1 2023 financial results and provide a business update, including a discussion of new SER-155 study results. Prior to the conference call, the Company plans to provide slides to accompany the conference call on the ‘Investors and News’ section of the Seres website at www.serestherapeutics.com.
To access the conference call, please dial 800-715-9871 (domestic) or 646-307-1963 (international) and reference Conference ID 5098595. To join the live webcast, please visit the ‘Investors and News’ section of the Seres website at www.serestherapeutics.com.
A webcast replay will be available on the Seres website beginning approximately two hours after the event and will be archived for at least 21 days.
About Seres Therapeutics
Seres Therapeutics, Inc. (Nasdaq: MCRB) is a commercial-stage company developing novel microbiome therapeutics for serious diseases. Seres’ lead program, VOWSTTM, obtained U.S. FDA approval in April 2023 as the first orally administered microbiota-based therapeutic to prevent recurrence of C. difficile infection (CDI) in adults following antibacterial treatment for recurrent CDI and is being commercialized in collaboration with Nestlé Health Science. Seres is