Ferring extends collaboration with Karolinska Institutet

Announcing a second collaboration this month, Privately-held Swiss drugmaker Ferring Pharmaceuticals says it has entered a five-year extension of its agreement with the Karolinska Institutet to explore the potential of the human microbiome in reproductive medicine and women’s health and gastroenterology.

The collaboration brings together specialist expertise from Karolinska Institutet in early stage research, Rebiotix, a late-stage clinical microbiome company that Ferring acquired in 2018, and Ferring’s therapeutic area and commercialization capabilities.

The extension includes six reproductive health clinical studies of around 6,000 women and babies and four gastroenterology studies of about 3,000 adults and children, to further investigate the role of the microbiome in areas of high unmet need including recurrent pregnancy loss, preterm birth and inflammatory bowel disease.