Carbiotix takes gut microbiome testing mainstream

Carbiotix, a pre-clinical stage therapeutics company that offers low-cost gut health testing globally, announced the launch of their second generation diagnostic platform.

“The launch is truly a game changer when it comes to increasing the reliability and accessibility of the gut health test. We are extremely happy to not only offer this test directly to consumers, but also offer our platform as a white label service to any food & beverage, nutraceutical, or health & wellness company, as well as dieticians and medical professionals,” said Carbiotix CEO Kristofer Cook.

The Sweden-based company will now offer a Next Generation Sequencing (NGS) test with three samples as a standard, with tests sold directly to consumers via Carbiotix website.

“We offer a minimum three sample kit and that is the paradigm change. We’re moving away from the single sample to the triplicate sample and the rationale behind that is we have a natural variation in the gut microbiome, influenced by diet, exercise, medicine use if you’re sick, if you’re stressed out, etc. The only way to get an accurate measurement of someone’s gut microbiome taking a fecal sample, is to take it over a one-week period, either everyday or every second day,” Cook explained to NutraIngredients-USA. 

Direct to Consumer

For $99, users get a triplicate test that is taken over a week's time. When the kit arrives in the mail and samples are taken, they can be mailed back in a prepaid envelope for analysis. Once the fecal samples have been received and analyzed, results and key metrics can be viewed online. 

Business offerings 

In addition to the consumer gut health test OneGut, the company also offers the option for companies to partner with Carbiotix via a white label service called LinkGut. The service is for those interested in offering their own gut health testing service to build brand loyalty, access data, and increase sales. The service allows supplement providers, nutritionists, and others to offer testing services to more people at no additional cost. 

For companies, organizations and academic institutions interested in gathering data, Carbiotix offers StudyGut, a clinical diagnostic service option that offers gut health testing. 

Prebiotic fiber ingredient

Carbiotix also recently completed new enzyme development work for its prebiotic ingredient containing AXOS. The company said this is an important milestone that will allow them to accelerate scale-up and regulatory work in 2020.

Cook said their ingredient is well positioned in the global prebiotics market, which is a trend expected to surpass $5 billion Euros (5.4 billion USD), growing at nearly 10% per year. 

“We’re a pioneer in this space. I consider us a vertically integrated microbiome healthcare company in the sense that we’re offering the diagnostics, we’re offering the ingredient to use to fortify foods, we’re offering the advanced nutraceutical, and the therapeutic as well. It allows us to personalize it to the individual.”

Cook added that the prebiotic component they offer tackles the deficiency many people experience. “People don’t have deficiencies in protein and carbohydrates and fat. But they have serious deficiency in dietary fiber, especially soluble fiber.  So yeah, we’re really pushing the boundaries in this area.”

Beyond the numbers 

“I think people have been romanticized or seduced by technology, thinking they can look at these huge databases and draw mass conclusions. AI does have a role to play I think, but at the end of the day, if you’re gonna diagnose or recommend something, you should understand more than just the microbiome data or the DNA. You should understand the person, blood work, physical attributes and lifestyle choices. All these things have to come into play.”