Recent Developments in Microbiome Therapeutics Recent-Developments-in-Microbiome-Therapeutics-Nov | Page 6

target Streptococcus mutans for the treatment of oral dysbiosis. The C16G2 peptide is currently undergoing Phase
2 Clinical trials under a US FDA IND application. In December 2016, the company revealed two new formulations,
varnish and tooth strip, for the C16G2 product. To date, C3J Therapeutics has raised a total of $105 million via
three rounds of funding.
Skin Care
Several companies are making good progress in providing microbiome based therapeutics for skin diseases. One
such company is Azitra Inc 16 . Azitra’s core technology involves genetically engineering normal skin bacteria to
express therapeutic proteins that need to be delivered to the skin. In April 2017, Azitra raised $2.9 million from a
Series A funding round, which will be utilized in testing its lead candidate, AZT-01, across several skin conditions
such as eczema, rare genetic skin diseases etc. as well as for cosmetic applications 17 .
Naked Biome 18 is working towards developing probiotic treatments for acne, eczema, psoriasis and rosacea. The
company is utilizing next generation sequencing techniques for profiling healthy and diseased skin to identify unique
microbial signatures that naturally aid against diseases. Although still at the data gathering stage, Naked Biome
has been selected for funding by the Illumina Accelerator. The company has raised a total of $9.4 million 19 since
its inception, two years ago. A direct competitor of Naked Biome is SkinomiX 20 , also working on acne using similar
techniques. No further information was available for SkinomiX.
Xycrobe Therapeutics 21 is an early stage biotech company working towards converting the skin’s
healthy bacteria into biotherapeutic delivery vehicles for treatment of inflammatory diseases of the
skin. Xycrobe’s platform utilizes two naturally occurring skin bacteria – Propionibacterium acnes and
an undisclosed species. In August 2016, Xycrobe entered into a research collaboration with Johnson &
Johnson Innovation to develop future therapeutic and commercial applications of the Xycrobe platform 22 .
Xycrobe is actively seeking investors so that it can perform animal and human pilot studies as well as set up a GMP
facility for its xycrobes 23 .
16 
https://azitrainc.com/
17  http://www.fiercebiotech.com/biotech/skin-disease-biotech-azitra-closes-2-9m-series-a-for-microbiome-work
18  http://www.nakedbiome.com/
19 
https://pitchbook.com/profiles/naked-biome-profile-investors-funding-valuation-and-analysis
20 
http://www.skinomix.com/
21  http://www.xycrobe.com/home.html
22 
h ttps://www.prnewswire.com/news-releases/xycrobe-announces-research-collaboration-with-johnson--johnson-
innovation-300313494.html
23  http://www.medstartr.com/project/detail/1307
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Recent Developments in Microbiome Therapeutics