Somerville biotech Finch Therapeutics Group Inc. could be one of the first local startups hoping to use natural bacteria to fight chronic diseases to bring a product to the market, and it’s aiming to treat two very different conditions: clostridium difficile and autism.
Finch Therapeutics Group Inc. nabbed $53 million in new financing this week from investors including OCV Partners and Symbiosis LLC — which also invested in local bacteria-leveraging startup Vedanta Biosciences. The Series C round follows the company’s $36 million fundraising in March 2018.
The money will help the 4-year-old biotech to move its lead bacteria-leveraging drug for clostridium difficile, a life-threatening intestinal illness, through a mid-stage study. Based on recent discussions with the FDA, Finch could file an application for approval after the ongoing trial wraps up, according to CEO Mark Smith.
Dozens of companies are developing ways to use bacteria to address a variety of diseases, but no treatments have been approved by the FDA.
Finch is also allocating some of the money towards a potential treatment for autism spectrum disorder. Autism causes a wide range of symptoms, but is linked to problems with social interaction, communication, sensitivity to light, sounds and more. The CDC reports that roughly one in every 59 children in the United States is on the spectrum, including half a million children that will become adults over the next decade.
In recent years, scientists have honed in on a potential link between the brain and the billions of bacteria in the gut — part of what is now referred to as the microbiome — as a potential cause of autism. Nearly half of people with autism have chronic gastrointestinal problems.
Finch, in particular, is working with researchers at Arizona State University to test the possibility that an oral pill containing bacteria from fecal transplants could alleviate autism symptoms.
Earlier this year, the university reported that two years after introducing new bacteria into 18 subjects’ digestive systems, half no longer met the criteria for an autism diagnosis.
Smith co-founded the nonprofit stool bank OpenBiome and led its research efforts before joining Finch. He said work conducted at Arizona State and elsewhere over the last several years supports Finch’s approach to treating autism. He also pointed to testing done on mice in California earlier this year, in which rodents that received fecal transplants from humans with autism developed characteristics of the disease, becoming less sociable, less vocal and developing repetitive behaviors.
A microbiome-based approach to autism is also being propelled forward by Waltham startup Axial Biotherapeutics, which raised $25 million in a Series B round earlier this year.
“All of these have given us the view that there could be something really big here,” Smith said. “The severity of gastrointestinal symptoms correlates with the severity of behavioral symptoms in autism.”
Finch owns all of the rights to its potential treatments for C.diff and autism, said Smith. The 80-person company is also working with Japanese drugmaker Takeda Pharmaceutical Co. Ltd. — which is in the process of moving its U.S. headquarters from Illinois to Massachusetts — on an ulcerative colitis therapy to which Takeda (NYSE: TAK) will own exclusive rights.
