BRIEF—Vedanta awarded up to $76.9 million from BARDA for development of VE303

US microbiome company Vedanta Biosciences today announced it has been awarded funding of $7.4 million, with the potential for up to an additional $69.5 million, from the Biomedical Advanced Research and Development Authority (BARDA) to advance clinical development of VE303 for high-risk Clostridioides difficile infection (CDI).

The funding will support completion of an ongoing Phase II trial and further clinical development of VE303, a rationally-defined, orally-administered live biotherapeutic product (LBP) consisting of eight well-characterized commensal bacterial strains designed to effect robust and durable therapeutic changes in a patient's gut microbiota.

A previous Phase Ia/Ib study demonstrated rapid, durable, dose-dependent colonization and accelerated restoration of gut microbiota in healthy volunteers who were pre-treated with antibiotics.