New Delhi: In a major development for medical fraternity, the first-ever pill for fecal transplant therapy has been approved by the US Food and Drug Administration.
The pill has been so manufactured to treat the bacterial infection called Clostridioides difficile, a common and deadly ailment.
The drug, named Vowst, is expected to prevent the spread of bacteria that causes infection and has live gut bacteria from samples of healthy people.
“Today’s approval provides patients and healthcare providers a new way to help prevent recurrent C. difficile infection,” said Dr Peter Marks of FDA’s Center for Biologics Evaluation and Research in a statement after announcement of the approval.
“The availability of a fecal microbiota product that can be taken orally is a significant step forward in advancing patient care and accessibility for individuals who have experienced this disease that can be potentially life-threatening,” the statement added.
What is Fecal Transplantation?
According to John’s Hopkins Medicine, it’s a procedure to collect feces (stool) from a healthy donor and introduce them into a patient’s gastrointestinal tract. It is meant to control Clostridium difficile by adding healthy bacteria into the recipient’s intestines.
What is C. Diff?
The thousands of bacteria present in a healthy digestive tract are helpful to digestion, or are harmless in most cases, according to Johns Hopkins. However, administration of antibiotics, which may be required for certain conditions, can kill off many of the good bacteria in the colon. This can allow the bad bacteria, Clostridium difficile (C. diff) to take over. For people over 65 years of age and in those with chronic illness, C. Diff infection can be severe — even fatal.
