BiomX acquires RondinX to expand microbiome targets for IBD, liver disease

BiomX recently announced the acquisition of RondinX to expand the company’s pipeline with novel microbial targets for the treatment of liver disease and inflammatory bowel disease, according to a press release.

Jonathan Solomon

“We’ve seen a lot of value driven by the fact that we can identify such targets. There are two parts to this: one, define the target; and two, take it out,” Jonathan Solomon, CEO of BiomX told Healio Gastroenterology and Liver Disease. “For us, this acquisition makes a lot of sense because RondinX have unique, cutting edge approaches to analyzing the genetics of gut bacteria as well as identifying their growth rate and characteristics. It fits exactly with the technology that we have. Put together, I think we have a true cutting-edge target-discovering agent.”

According to Solomon, RondinX has identified bacteria in the microbiome that appear linked to specific liver and gastric diseases. Additionally, RondinX has gathered and sequenced unique data sets on gut and liver bacteria from around the world.

“We, early on, identified that there’s a need to build and enhance discovery in the microbiome. It’s all about finding bacteria which are suspicious and may drive disease. There is now new technology that allows us to look at specific strains and all the sequencing capabilities will lead to better identification,” Solomon said. “As we looked into it, the RondinX acquisition made a lot of sense because they had these capabilities.”

BiomX’s pipeline has programs for chronic liver disease and IBD designed to identify specific bacteria and bacteria strains as targets that drive disease. Solomon stated that the company plans to initiate clinical trials at the end of 2019 with one of their current IBD targets. – by Talitha Bennett

Disclosure: Solomon is an employee of BiomX.