UCSF Spinout, Siolta Therapeutics Inc., Successfully Targets Allergic Disease Prevention
Atopic diseases, including eczema, asthma, and food allergies, collectively impact over 20% of children in the United States, contributing to substantial lifelong medical challenges and healthcare burden. Despite their rising prevalence, no approved treatments exist to prevent these conditions. Siolta Therapeutics, a clinical-stage UCSF spinout co-founded by Drs. Nikole Kimes (CEO, Siolta Therapeutics Inc.) and Susan Lynch (Professor, Departments of Medicine and Pediatrics, and Director, Benioff Center for Microbiome Medicine, UCSF) are focused on addressing this unmet need through early-life gut microbiome-based therapies.
Groundbreaking research led by Dr. Kimes during her postdoctoral work in the Lynch lab revealed the pivotal role of the infant gut microbiome in modulating immune development and allergic inflammation1. Dr. Kimes’s postdoctoral preclinical animal studies, in collaboration with Dr. Ricardo Valladares (Chief Scientific Officer, Siolta Therapeutics Inc.), laid the groundwork for Siolta’s lead product, STMC-103H. Their findings demonstrated that a minimal number of microbes, chosen based on their functional capacity, could reprogram gut microbiome metabolism, reduce inflammation, and protect animals against allergy.
Building on this foundational research, Drs. Kimes and Lynch co-founded Siolta Therapeutics Inc. in late 2016 to translate their discoveries into clinical applications. Siolta’s lead therapeutic candidate, STMC-103H, represents the culmination of these efforts. A recent Phase 2 trial (the ADORED trial), in which newborns were treated daily for the first year of life with STMC-103H revealed encouraging outcomes. Infants who were treated for one year with STMC-103H experienced a 64% reduction in risk of developing atopic dermatitis and a 77% reduction in risk of developing food allergy compared to placebo-treated controls. These exciting results highlight the potential of early life microbiome-targeted interventions to reduce or prevent the initiation or progression of atopic disease.
Siolta’s proprietary pipeline has also led to the development of microbial therapeutics to address additional conditions, including bacterial vaginosis and necrotizing enterocolitis. These efforts highlight Siolta’s commitment to developing microbiome-based solutions that target women’s health issues and rare but devastating neonatal diseases. Siolta’s innovations, deeply rooted in UCSF translational research, represent a paradigm shift in healthcare - from symptom management to disease prevention - via microbiome-targeted interventions. By harnessing the microbiome’s therapeutic potential to modulate immune function and prevent disease progression, Siolta is driving transformative improvements in neonatal and pediatric medicine and setting new standards for preventing diseases with a global footprint.
For further details on Siolta Therapeutics and their research, please visit Siolta Therapeutics Inc. or review their press release.
Durack J, Kimes NE, Lin DL, Rauch M, McKean M, McCauley K, Panzer AR, Mar JS, Cabana MD, Lynch SV. Delayed gut microbiota development in high-risk for asthma infants is temporarily modifiable by Lactobacillus supplementation. Nat Commun. 2018 Feb 16;9(1):707. doi: 10.1038/s41467-018-03157-4. PMID: 29453431; PMCID: PMC5816017.