Following an assessment of the patients' requirements, we formulated the preliminary concept of One for All Synbiotic Therapy with the aim of extending the drug's half-life, reducing its dosage and encapsulating it in a specialized material for optimal gut delivery. However, to determine its suitability for treatment purposes, we require additional input from experienced professionals. Consequently, we contacted a physician at a prominent hospital in Wuhan and obtained feedback on our project design. Ultimately, this individual provided us with valuable suggestions regarding the feasibility and safety of our proposal.
Attitude towards the available drugs
Dr. Fang asserts that the current pharmacotherapy for colitis, diabetes, and hypertension exhibits commendable efficacy. The affordability of these medications makes them accessible to the average household. Nonetheless, certain drugs may entail adverse effects; nevertheless, their impact remains minimal when administered at controlled dosages.
Suggestions for the project design
Regarding the feasibility of synbiotic therapy, the doctor deems our concept to be innovative and acknowledges the extensive applicability of synbiotic therapy. However, he also offers the following recommendations:
Firstly, it is imperative to ensure targeted release of probiotics in a specific location within the intestinal tract to prevent premature digestion.
Secondly, we should strive for short-term dominance of probiotic flora. The developed probiotics should not only exhibit positive effects in vitro or experimental settings but also maintain an advantageous position within complex internal human environments. For 3-HB treatment, it is essential to guarantee its stability within intricate internal human environments and its efficacy on humans. In treating hypertension and diabetes polypeptides, microorganisms must express antihypertensive peptides and hypoglycemic peptides that demonstrate both efficacy and effectiveness on humans during experiments.
The doctor explained that the introduction of foreign bacteria typically does not lead to these issues because, once probiotics enter the intestinal tract, it becomes a matter of natural selection for survival. Moreover, microorganisms are also commonly present in the food people consume. For example, current stool transplantation technology involves transferring beneficial strains extracted from stool into the human body. Therefore, the primary concern lies in whether probiotics can establish dominance within the intestine and effectively exert their therapeutic effects.
In terms of the safety of synbiotic therapy, it is advised by the doctor to employ appropriate methods for prompt elimination or reduction of probiotic flora dominance when treating diseases or encountering adverse effects on the human body. The preferred method for elimination should be simplified, such as utilizing specific ingestible drugs. During probiotic elimination, it is crucial to maintain intestinal health by avoiding disruption of the balance in intestinal flora and considering the impact of probiotics on the environment.
The third concern pertains to cost. The doctor mentioned that although synbiotic therapy has not been extensively utilized in clinical treatment, there are instances where probiotics have been transplanted into the intestine as a treatment approach. However, this method incurs a cost of approximately 6,000 yuan per course and necessitates multiple courses, while some existing drugs are significantly cheaper. Addressing this issue involves finding ways to reduce costs and make our drug treatment more affordable for most patients. As a cost-saving measure, the doctor suggested exploring whether probiotics can be cultured in vitro and considering packaging peptides into capsules after their production in vitro. If we do not possess a cost advantage, our drug should exhibit distinctive advantages in other aspects to gain better acceptance from the public.
Harvest: Our communication with Dr.Fang made us realize certain neglected areas in project design, such as understanding strain's suicide mechanism,and reminded us about paying attention towards any differences between efficacy observed within vivo versus in vitro conditions. It was also mentioned that we need to identify unique advantages offered by our project compared to existing drugs.