Microbiome impact of ibezapolstat and other

Background: Ibezapolstat (IBZ) is a competitive inhibitor of the bacterial Pol IIIC enzyme in clinical development for treatment of Methods: Groups of germ-free (GF) mice received a fecal microbiota transplant from one of two healthy human donors and were subsequently exposed to either IBZ, VAN, fidaxomicin (FDX), metronidazole (MET), or no antibiotic (control). 16S rRNA encoding gene sequencing of temporally collected stool samples was used to compare gut microbiome perturbation between treatment and no-drug control groups. Results: Among the tested antibiotics, the most significant change in microbiome diversity was observed in MET-treated mice. Each antibiotic had a unique effect, but changes in alpha and beta diversity following FDX- and IBZ-treated groups were less pronounced compared to those observed in VAN-or MET-treated groups. By the end of therapy, both IBZ and FDZ increased the relative abundance of Bacteroidota (phylum), with IBZ additionally increasing the relative abundance of Actinomycetota (phylum). Conclusion: In microbiome-humanized mice, IBZ and FDX had smaller effects on gut microbiome diversity compared to VAN and MET. Notable differences were observed between the microbiome of IBZ- and FDX-treated groups, which may allow for differentiation of these two antibiotics in future studies.