Microbiota transplantation is safe and effective for treating clostridioides difficile infections, according to a clinical trial published in the journal Gastroenterology.

Recurrent clostridioides difficile (C. diff) infections can cause severe diarrhea, stomach pain, vomiting and rapid weight loss in affected patients.

While fecal microbiota transplantation has shown promise in treating C. diff, the effectiveness of orally administered microbiome therapeutics has not been well-studied in recurrent infections.

“C. diff tends to be more resistant to therapies and it can be deadly,” said Eugene Yen, MD, associate professor of Medicine in the Division of Gastroenterology and Hepatology, who was a co-author of the study. “Previously, transplanting stool into other people’s colons via colonoscopy was the standard of care. There’s a huge unmet need in terms of treating people who have recurrent C. diff infection.”

In the study, more than 190 patients with recurrent C. diff infections received either standard care and antibiotics or an orally administered microbiota therapy. Patients who received microbiota therapy had fewer recurrences compared to the placebo group (74 percent versus 64 percent), according to the study.

The microbiota therapy group also showed a durable increase in microbiome diversity and no additional adverse outcomes.

Although the company behind the microbiota pill tested in the study is no longer in business, the findings highlight the potential for pill-based microbiota therapies for treating recurrent C. diff infections, Yen said.

“C. diff is one of the only clinical examples of how we’re using microbiome-based therapies to treat disease. This is another piece of information that we’re using as this type of therapy is evolving,” Yen said.

Building on these findings, Yen and his collaborators will continue to study different types of microbiota therapies for C. diff, he said.

The study was funded by Finch Research and Development LLC.