There are many over-the-counter probiotic food additions that one can eat, and now the FDA has approved the first oral microbiome to be used as a therapeutic.
The agency has greenlighted Seres Therapeutics’ live microbiome capsule Vowst, previously coded SER-109, to prevent recurrence of Clostridioides difficile infection, a potentially deadly disease. While antibiotics are mostly effective at knocking back C. difficile, they also disrupt the gut microbiome ecosystem. For its part, Vowst introduces purified Firmicutes spores, a type of “good” microbiome, to outcompete C. difficile and therefore restore gut health.