Every year the Classy Awards recognize the most innovative and impactful social programs in the world. This blog series highlights each initiative and show the breadth of social innovation genius and passion by spotlighting each of the ten winners of the 2017 Classy Awards. In this post I present OpenBiome, the first public stool bank on a mission to expand safe access to fecal transplants and catalyze research into the human microbiome. [Featured image courtsey of OpenBiome’s Instagram account.]
OpenBiome: The first public stool bank
Did you know that you can become a stool donor? It’s true. Your bathroom routine could safe another person’s life. Nearly half a million Americans are infected with Clostridium difficile each year. C. diff causes extreme gastrointestinal inflammation and diarrhea. Furthermore, it’s one of the most common hospital-acquired infections in the U.S. It affects about 500,000 Americans and the condition leads to as many as 30,000 deaths each year.
About 1 in 5 people do not respond to antibiotics when infected with C. difficile. But a treatment called Fecal Microbiota Transplantation (FMT) has been shown to be a promising new therapy. It cures 90 percent of C. difficile patients who don’t respond to antibiotic treatment. Openbiome makes treatment easier, safer, and more affordable by collecting and screening healthy stool samples and providing them to doctors for transplant.
Shipping 20,000 FMT preparations
In January of 2017 OpenBiome celebrated shipping its 20,000th FMT preparation for use in treating deadly C. diff infections. In a news release, OpenBiome announced that in the four years it has grown to support hospitals and clinics with more than 1,000 FMT preparations per month. Thanks to a growing network of providers, 97% of Americans live within a two-hour drive of a treatment center offering FMT. OpenBiome also supplies material for 47% of the open clinical trials of FMT in the United States, supporting research on the therapy’s potential for treating conditions including ulcerative colitis, Crohn’s disease, and irritable bowel syndrome.
“This field is expanding rapidly,” said Mark Smith, OpenBiome’s research director. “What was a fringe treatment just five years ago is now standard, and we’re just beginning to explore how human health can be advanced through microbiome-based interventions. It’s exciting to be part of this research.”
It’s time for FDA-approved poo
In an op-ed in the Huffpost on February 23, 2017, t was the right decision to allow patients to access this therapy when there is no other hope. Now, it’s right to continue to test the treatment, expanding access in line with our understanding of the risks and benefits it poses. It’s time for FDA-approved poo.”
Your stool can save lives
OpenBiome is seeking healthy volunteer donors to provide life-saving treatment for people with C. difficile infection. If you happen to live in Cambridge or Somerville, Massachusetts, find out how you could potentially become a stool donor and help OpenBiome move their mission forward.
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Read about Classy Award winner Because International
