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The Human Microbiome

The human digestive tract contains a complex and diverse ecosystem of trillions of microorganisms, mainly bacteria.  Recent advances in molecular and analytical techniques have permitted identification of bacterial species and strains that inhabit the gastrointestinal tract, their metabolic activity, and interactions with the human host. These studies have provided greater insight into the role of gut microbes and their metabolites in health and disease.

The Human Genome & Microbiome Projects

  • The $3bn Human Genome Project delivered its first human genome draft in 2003, sparking hopes for transformative treatments.
  • In 2008, the Human Microbiome Project launched with a $115m budget, yielding results in 2012 and expanding our understanding of human-bacterial interaction.

Microbiome in Health and Therapeutics

  • Research shows clear links between the gut microbiome and a range of diseases including inflammatory autoimmune disorders, gut inflammation-related disorders, and cardiometabolic diseases.
  • More recently researchers have identified the microbiome as a modulator of drug response creating the potential to improve the safety and efficacy of existing drugs. Cancer treatments have led the way in this area with three landmark studies each linking differences in the gut microbiome to the efficacy of cancer immunotherapy (Gopalakrishnan et al., 2018; Matson et al., 2018; Routy et al., 2018)
  • Early, albeit less targeted therapies such as faecal microbial transplants and nutritional strategies are starting to show clinical effects in the treatment of C. difficile infection, diabetes, inflammatory bowel disease, and a number of other diseases.  However, the strategies lack precision and more targeted ways, such as OptiBiotix’s microbiome modulators, could be more beneficial.

Microbiome Market Potential

  • A global market of strategic interest to pharmaceutical, food, health, and wellbeing companies.
  • Market forecast: 31.5% CAGR (2014–2030). Some commentators describing the opportunities as being in the region of ~$1 trillion
  • OptiBiotix products are developed to target future global mega trends such as naturalappetite suppressants, Digestive Health and Sugar reduction
  • Increasing awareness and understanding of the microbiome from consumers, government and media
  • Drivers include an aging population, preventative health trends and growing consumer demand for scientifically supported products.

Science & IP

OptiBiotix has developed an extensive Intellectual Property (IP) portfolio composed of patents and trademarks. These create a broad and overlapping portfolio of IP, protecting its commercial interests across the world and limiting potential competitors from entering the field.

  • 67+ patents across 17 families, a mixture of formulation, composition and application patents, which are continually being updated to extend protection as new developments and opportunities are identified.
  • 75+ trademarks globally, helping distinguish its products from competitors and allows itself and partners to build and protect a recognisable brand

Product Development Strategy

The company have adopted a two-generation product strategy to the development of its product portfolio to reduce risk and maximise opportunities for investors. 

  • Proven, market-ready products, establishing its commercial business, generating high market interest and early revenues with product launches.
  • Developing a maturing growing pipeline of novel products designed to combat a host of chronic lifestyle diseases, making the benefits of human microbiome modulation commercially available.

First Generation Products

OptiBiotix’s first generation technology utilises existing science supported by world renowned key opinion leaders, awards, IP and human studies. These products are currently being sold in multiple international markets and have on pack health claims supported by humans studies:

SlimBiome® / LeanBiome® / OptiBiome®

SlimBiome® is an award-winning, patented, mineral enriched multi-prebiotic fiber complex formulated in collaboration with leading UK universities and key opinion leaders in appetite regulation and the gut microbiome. It utilises existing science providing a complementary mechanism to reduce hunger and cravings. SlimBiome® enhances beneficial bacteria in the gut which have been associated with a “lean body” microbiome.

SlimBiome® manages hunger and promotes an immediate and long-lasting feeling of fullness through increasing stomach viscosity and delaying gastric emptying. SlimBiome® manages food cravings by moderating glycaemic and insulin response contributing to carbohydrate, lipid and protein metabolism.

Four independent human intervention trials have shown consistently that SlimBiome® manages hunger and cravings and promotes a diverse, ‘lean’ microbiome:

  • Two double-blind, placebo-controlled, crossover, human intervention studies demonstrated a significant decreases in hunger and increases in fullness in individuals taking SlimBiome®. Participants who took 3g of SlimBiome® experienced significantly less hunger and felt fuller compared to the placebo both immediately and after 2.5 hours after consuming SlimBiome®.
  • A parallel, double-blind, placebo-controlled human study performed by Oxford Brookes University on volunteers who took SlimBiome® combined with healthy eating over a 4-week period have also shown it to help control overeating.
  • In a prospective, open-label human study performed by the University of Roehampton, using a meal replacement diet plan over 4 weeks SlimBiome® reduced fat mass by 5.4%, body fat by 2.8% and saw significant reductions in hip, waist and BMI whilst maintaining muscle mass.

With the introduction of the GLP-1 obesity drugs the concept of managing hunger and cravings naturally has become an area of fast-growing interest. This has seen SlimBiome® becoming increasingly associated with large international brands looking to offer a healthier and sustainable lifestyle approach to weight management.

LeanBiome® is a tradename developed for SlimBiome® to enter the sports nutrition channel to position within the high protein, low calorie product portfolios supporting a lean body composition. OptiBiotix is seeing an increasing level of interest in this area with products launched with some of the largest brands in this space. OptiBiome® is a tradename used for SlimBiome® in international territories where the implied benefit of the brand ‘slim’ cannot be used.

WellBiome®

WellBiome® is a patented mineral-enriched prebiotic fiber complex optimised to enrich and nourish the gut microbiome. OptiBiotix Health collaborated with leading UK universities and pioneers in microbiome science and nutrition to design a prebiotic with the greatest impact on gut microbiome composition, metabolic activity and digestive tolerance.

WellBiome® resulted from the extensive study of over 50 functional fibers and multiple minerals. The prebiotic complex uses specific forms of Inulin, XOS and Magnesium to:

  • synergistically promote gut microbiome diversity
  • support gut barrier integrity through enriching health positive bacteria
  • promote metabolic activity, most importantly Short Chain Fatty Acids production

At the 5.1g recommended dose, WellBiome® is easily tolerated and highly soluble, allowing for applications in powders, bars and even beverages for digestive health products aimed at creating a complete microbiome support prebiotic for “leaky gut”, healthy aging, and more.

Second Generation

OptiBiotix’s second generation Products utilise novel science and techniques to develop novel compounds with large market opportunities.

OptiBiotic®: Targeted Prebiotics to Modulate the Microbiome

OptiBiotixhave developed a patented reverse enzyme process to create prebiotics which are selective for enhancing the growth and activity of commercially significantprobiotics.

Its first product, OptiLact has been designed for Lactobacillus probiotics. The approach offers a unique opportunity to boost Lactobacillus species by using a targeted prebiotic which is suitable for synergistic synbiotic applications. Whilst commercially available prebiotics such as inulin, fructo-oligosaccharides and xylo-oligosaccharides are available to enhance the growth of Bifidobacterium, they cannot support most Lactobacillus strains. OptiBLact offers a unique opportunity for probiotic providers to enhance the growth and functionality of their probiotics with the first commercially available prebiotic which selectively enhances the growth and biological activity of Lactobacillus species.

An opportunity for differentiation – synergistic synbiotics

The global probiotics market is valued at $84.8 billion (Mordor Intelligence, 2025), with lactobacilli dominating the global probiotic market with 65% market share by revenue (Coherent Market Insights, 2023).  One of the key constraints on probiotic market growth is the high cost of developing new strains leading to increased interest in improving functionality and performance of existing probiotic products. This has led to increased interest in the development of synergistic synbiotic formulations.

The synbiotic market is growing by a compound annual growth rate (CAGR) of 8.2% to 2029 (Mordor Intelligence, 2024). The market is dominated by Lactobacillus and Bifidobacterium, with Lactobacillus having the most commercial significance, combined with prebiotics like inulin, FOS, and GOS.  These prebiotics do not selectively enhance the growth and activity of Lactobacillus and are used at dosages which do not confer a health benefit.  OptiLact represents a new market opportunity by creating synergistic synbiotic products which have improved activity and functionality.  Synergistic synbiotics are seen as the future of synbiotic formulations as the probiotic is selectively enhanced by the prebiotic.  Existing synbiotic formulations are complementary in that each component acts independent of each other and do not bring added benefits

Designer prebiotics and precision engineering of the microbiome

The patented reverse enzyme process can also be used to create prebiotics which are selective for enhancing the growth and activity of specific bacteria in the gut (e.g Roseburia, Faecalibcteria etc). This process results in ‘designer prebiotics’ specific for a microbial target (genus/species) associated with a health benefit and has the ability to be used individually to modulate the microbiome to enhance the health benefit or improve the safety and efficacy of drugs.

This is a new product concept that allows the creation of targeted microbiome modulators that increase the growth, biological activity and health benefit of individual genera or species in the human microbiome. This ability to identify and create products which selectively enhance the growth and activity of specific microbes is a new concept but has the potentialto revolutionise health benefits of existing probiotics and the possibility, with further studies, to improve drug therapies for a range of diseases.

Current position

The Company has developed a number of products which have been applied to multiple microbial species and strains, with the first available product developed for Lactobacillus species as they dominate the global probiotic market with 65% market share by revenue (Coherent Market Insights, 2023). The Company has been working with academic and industry partners and have published seven papers which have been published and/or presented at international conferences, providing an independent assessment of the technology and the products ability to selectively improve growth and improve a health condition. A further publication which has been submitted as a joint publication with DSM shows the ability of OptiBiotix’s microbiome modulators to selectively enhance the growth of Lactobacillus rhamnosus GG (“LGG”), the world’s bestselling probiotic. OptiBiotix’s studies to date have shown:-

  1. The ability to create unique products for a range of different beneficial microbes.  These may be commercial probiotics or beneficial bacteria in the gut associated with a health benefit
  2. The ability of these products to greatly enhance the growth rate and health benefits of these beneficial microbes and the bioactives (SCFA’s) they produce
  3. The ability of these products to maintain high levels of a probiotic in the gut for longer than if using the probiotic alone

Current commercial focus is on launching a generic Lactobacillus boost product; codeveloping strain specific products with large companies who have high volumes of a specific probiotic species, and more longer-term exploring opportunities with the increasing number of pharmaceutical companies who have interest and expertise in the microbiome and its ability to deliver health benefits.

SweetBiotix®: Sweet Healthy Fibres Which Improve Gut Microbiome Diversity

OptiBiotix has developed a portfolio of novel, patented, zero or low calorie sweet dietary fibres, called SweetBiotix®. They are unique in that they do not have the health concerns associated with sugar, corn syrup, or sweeteners and importantly, are classified as dietary fibres. In addition to the benefits of increasing fibre intake, SweetBiotix® fibres have been shown to have a prebiotic effect by increasing the production of short chain fatty acids (“SCFA”). SCFAs are widely known for their importance in gut health, immunity and how energy is metabolised in the body and are one of the main ways in which the gut microbiome contributes to better health. This creates a clear differentiator to other products on the market and an opportunity to replace unhealthy sugars with healthy fibres in a range of food and beverage products.

The SweetBiotix® portfolio contains a range of products which human studies have shown have high (240X the sweetness of sugar) to moderate levels of sweetness (2-3X) to meet the needs of a wide range of application including fizzy drinks, snacks, bakery products, dairy products and cereals. The high-level sweet products could be considered a replacement for existing sweeteners whilst the moderate level sweetness products as bulk sugar replacement products. 

 Product developments

OptiBiotix’s products are differentiated from other natural sweeteners and sugar substitutes on the market in that they have been developed: –

 i.      To be classified on packaging as dietary fibres providing no contribution to sugar intake and enhancing product nutritional labels.

ii.     Have a low glycemic index (reducing the risk of developing diabetes).

iii.    Enhance the gut microbiome providing additional potential health benefits.

iv.   Have intense sweetness (High Intensity Sweeteners) or sweetness similar to sugar (depending on product).

Our products are also tested by different academic groups providing an independent assessment of their taste and prebiotic functionality. The most recent peer reviewed publication (see Prebiotic Potential of a New Sweetener Based on Galactooligosaccharides and Modified Mogrosides – PubMed (nih.gov)) in a respected industry journal concluded ‘These substrates could be considered as novel candidate prebiotic sweeteners, foreseeing a feasible and innovative approach targeting the sucrose content reduction in food. This new ingredient could provide health benefits when evaluated in human studies by combining sweetness and prebiotic fibre functionality’.

Product position

The Company has developed SweetBiotix® products to meet the needs of a number of industry partners and well-known global consumer brands. These products have been tested by academic groups who have published their findings in peer reviewed journals providing an authoritative and independent assessment of SweetBiotix’s® taste and prebiotic functionality. 

Significant progress has been made by partners in the commercial scale production of SweetBiotix®. Expert panel testing of the scale manufactured product has shown comparable taste and texture when compared to the laboratory product. Commercial launch is likely to involve a phased introduction of SweetBiotix® products as a direct bulk sugar substitute and then introduced into OptiBiotix’s and partners consumer products across an increasing range of applications. With growing consumer and industry concerns over traditional sugars and sweeteners, the Company is in a strong position to exploit its low calorie, high fibre sweetBiotix® products as a safe, natural and healthy alternative to sugar and sugar substitutes.