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The human microbiome: opportunity or hype?

Nature Reviews Drug Discovery volume 16, pages 823–824 (2017)Cite this article

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So, does the microbiome field provide viable opportunities for biopharma companies to develop innovative therapies, or has it been overhyped? Here, we argue that the opportunity is real, but that multiple questions remain related to the science, clinical development, regulation and business models for microbiome-based therapies.

Therapeutic approaches and investment

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Figure 1: Overview of more advanced microbiome projects.

Acknowledgements

The authors gratefully acknowledge U. Schulze, A. Farber and V. Panier for their expert reflections on this topic. The authors would also like to thank T. Guez, F. Bellino and M. Fuller for the support on the research and assembly of the report.

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Authors and Affiliations

  1. The Boston Consulting Group, 600 Brickell Avenue, Miami, 33131, Florida, USA

    Pedro M. Valencia

  2. The Boston Consulting Group, Exchange Place, Boston, 02109, Massachusetts, USA

    Jesse Brock

  3. DBV Technologies, 177–181 Avenue Pierre Brossolette, Montrouge, 92120, France

    Magali Richard

  4. The Boston Consulting Group, 24–26 Rue Saint-Dominique, Paris, 75007, France

    Elsy Boglioli

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  1. Pedro M. Valencia
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  2. Magali Richard
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  3. Jesse Brock
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  4. Elsy Boglioli
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Corresponding author

Correspondence to Elsy Boglioli.

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Competing interests

The authors of this article are or were employees of The Boston Consulting Group (BCG), a management consultancy that works with the world's leading biopharmaceutical companies. The research for this specific article was funded by BCG's Health Care practice.

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Valencia, P., Richard, M., Brock, J. et al. The human microbiome: opportunity or hype?. Nat Rev Drug Discov 16, 823–824 (2017). https://doi.org/10.1038/nrd.2017.154

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