Evelo Biosciences, a startup hoping to use the trillions of microbes in and on the human body to fight disease, is shutting down after running low on cash and seeing multiple drug trial failures.
The biotech, which was based in Cambridge, Mass., launched in 2015 and was one of the first companies in the microbiome field, which seeks to treat disease by leveraging bacteria naturally found in and around the body. Scientists theorized that interruptions to the carefully balanced ecosystem of bacteria in our bodies could contribute to many diseases; Evelo initially focused on cancers of the lung, skin, prostate, and colon.
The field has developed a couple of drugs. The first was approved almost exactly one year ago to treat a bowel disorder called Clostridium difficile infections, more commonly known as C. diff. A second microbiome therapy for C. diff was approved in April.