SBIR Phase I: Faecalibacterium prausnitzii supernatant oral formulations to improve insulin sensitivity and treat prediabetes

Award ID: 2151168

The broader impact/commercial potential of this Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project is to prevent and treat prediabetes and type 2 diabetes. More than 1 in 3 American adults have prediabetes or type 2 diabetes with associated healthcare costs exceeding $327 billion. Current therapies often present adverse effects or are ineffective in some patients. The top five human diabetes drugs alone are expected to cost $23 billion annually by 2024. This project advances a novel diabetic treatment composed of a postbiotic mixture from beneficial gut bacteria. This will improve clinical outcomes for prediabetic patients. This Small Business Innovation Research (SBIR) Phase I project will evaluate the efficacy and elucidate the mechanism of a potential microbiome-based treatment toward an oral treatment that effectively reduces diabetes-associated markers. The three technical objectives are to: 1) evaluate the technology and demonstrate equivalent or superior performance compared to existing antidiabetic drugs, 2) better understand the mechanism that leads to efficacy in the treatment of prediabetes and type 2 diabetes, and 3) identify the active molecule(s) from the postbiotic mixture. These objectives will be carried out using rodent trials, cell-based assays, and advanced separation techniques. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.

NSF Program Director: Henry Ahn