MRM Health, a clinical-stage biopharmaceutical firm, has obtained regulatory and ethics committee approval to commence an observational, cross-sectional clinical trial examining the role of the small intestinal microbiome in Parkinson’s Disease (PD). This trial aims to identify PD-specific microbial and metabolic patterns in small intestinal fluid and blood. The research is conducted in collaboration with Nimble Science and the University of Calgary, Canada.
The trial, which is anticipated to enroll up to 100 subjects, including an age-matched healthy volunteer cohort, will be conducted within the Calgary Parkinson’s Research Initiative (CaPRI) led by Dr. Davide Martino. The trial is registered on Clinicaltrials.gov under the number NCT06003608.
MRM Health specializes in developing rationally-designed consortium therapeutics utilizing its proprietary CORAL® technology. This technology comprises well-characterized commensal strains optimized to address key disease-driving mechanisms with enhanced potency, resiliency, and engraftment. The company’s scalable and standardized cGMP manufacturing platform facilitates the manufacturing of complete consortia as a single drug substance, overcoming historical limitations of microbiome therapy.
Sam Possemiers, Chief Executive Officer at MRM Health, expressed enthusiasm for the collaboration and highlighted the potential insights the study could offer into the small intestinal microbiome’s composition and its connection to Parkinson’s Disease pathophysiology.
Dr. Davide Martino, Principal Investigator of the study, emphasized the urgent need for safe and effective treatments for Parkinson’s Disease and the potential impact of the observational study on generating novel therapeutic hypotheses.
Sabina Bruehlmann, Chief Executive Officer at Nimble Science Inc., discussed the use of the Small Intestine MicroBiome Aspiration (SIMBA) system in the study. This system, a single-use, ingestible passive capsule, enables non-invasive sampling of small intestinal contents. It has shown promise in retrieving specific small intestine material in previous studies.
The collaboration between MRM Health, Nimble Science, and the University of Calgary aims to advance understanding of the role of the small intestinal microbiome in Parkinson’s Disease, potentially leading to the development of novel Live Biotherapeutic Products for its treatment.
