Bifido said it has become the first domestic company to win a patent for a microbiome-using treatment in the U.S.

The company has been developing a therapy for rheumatoid arthritis (RA) using intestinal microbiome, jointly with Catholic University Seoul St. Mary’s Hospital since 2017.

Based on the joint study, the company obtained a local patent for “Pharmabiotics composition targeting rheumatoid arthritis using bifidobacterium” in January.

Bifido’s patent in the pre-clinical research involved in injecting bifidobacteria, isolated from a healthy person, into an animal having RA. The study checked whether the injection significantly suppressed symptoms and incidence, compared to the control group.

Bifido hopes that it will be able to commercialize the RA treatment, with the winning of the patent both in the U.S. and in Korea.

“By gaining the patent for RA treatment results in Korea and the U.S., we are one step closer to our goal to release the product in 2020,” said an official at Bifido. “With Bifido’s unique technology for microbiome research and expertise, we will develop treatments for various auto-immune diseases and commercialize them.”