An investigational oral microbiome treatment was 70% more effective than placebo in preventing Clostridioides difficile infection recurrence within eight weeks of treatment in people with multiply recurrent CDI.
“In patients with recurrent C. difficile infection, achievement of a sustained clinical response can be made more likely with a two-pronged treatment paradigm of antibiotics followed by a microbiome therapeutic,” the researchers reported (N Engl J Med 2022;386:220-229).
Promising phase 2 studies prompted the phase 3 trial, which examined the efficacy of live, purified Firmicutes bacterial spores SER-109 (Seres Therapeutics) in reducing the risk of CDI recurrence up to eight weeks after treatment.