Postbiotics, the evolution of probiotics as a result of years of scientific research, increasingly attracting worldwide the attention of scientists and clinicians, becoming the key ingredient in human and animal health products and improving health conditions through a natural pathway. Postbiotic products are following a steep growth in the market and experiencing a dynamic change in consumption practise. Biotech companies are thus reimagining their production process with respect to product innovation and in-depth research.

Postbiotica® is an innovative biotech providing to patients safe and natural products that offer effective physiological interaction between microbiota and host, ensuring a natural well-being. Gianpietro Florenzano, CEO of Postbiotica® was with us to share details of their company.

Vision of the organisation

Postbiotica® was founded in 2016 by two researchers, Prof. Maria Rescigno (outstanding microbiota research expert, Full Professor of General Pathology and Vice Rector Responsible for Research at the Humanitas University and President of the Board of Postbiotica®) and Giuseppe Penna (Senior Scientist at Humanitas University and R&D member of Postbiotica®). They worked hard for years to understand in depth the positive effects of microbiota on health and identified postbiotics as the protagonists of the interaction of microbiota on human and animal health, positively interacting with immune system. Maria Rescigno was the first, in a publication in 2012, to use the term ‘postbiotic’ to define the metabolites produced by bacteria and able to interact positively with the immune system of the host. Today Postbiotica® is able to replicate the process of production of postbiotics by bacterial strains selected for certain characteristics in a natural reproducible process. It also purifies the postbiotics, separating them from the bacteria, and from their fragments, from which they are originated. Postbiotica® makes available the active metabolites useful for the body, eliminating the latency times due to the release of these metabolites in the body by probiotics, and potential risks of inserting live bacteria into the body.

Process of PBTech® technology used by the company

PBTech® is a proprietary process developed by Postbiotica® over the years in a tenacious way. It first selects the appropriate bacterial strains of the microbiota to perform a specific function. Subsequently, through innovative fermentations, under strictly controlled conditions, bacteria are induced to produce postbiotics in way they would in human or animal body under physiological conditions. Then it proceeds to the purification of postbiotics from bacteria.

Use of innovative techniques to spread awareness about microbiota

Today many people are aware that their well-being depends on the state of health of their microbiota.

And, surprisingly, not only the well-being of the intestine, but also that of numerous vital organs of the body, including that of the brain (the gut-brain axis is now a scientifically established certainty).

Gianpietro Florenzano said, “Postbiotica® provides further knowledge on microbiota through both conventional communication channels and digital and social platforms, by introducing recent acquisitions on identifying postbiotics as the real protagonists of the interaction between the microbiota and the organism that hosts it. This new frontier of science opens new perspectives of well-being making people aware of the scientific rigour of discoveries.”

Innovative PostbiotiX® series

Postbiotica® has recently reached the goal of bringing to the market its first finished products, the PostbiotiX® series.

PostbiotiX® series- The products of the PostbiotiX® series, including PostbiotiX Immuno®, Postbiotix Restore®, Postbiotix Motility®, Postbiotix Slowing® and Postbiotix Comfort®, are safe to use and are formulated in a unique way that allow immediate effectiveness and direct action on the immune system.

Each of them includes postbiotics alone or in addition to other specific and useful ingredients. Just to give an example, PostbiotiX Immuno®, in addition to the postbiotics, contains vitamin C that helps the immune system to function better, and vitamin B6 that helps reduce fatigue. The others Postbiotix® products provide help to specific frequent conditions in case of intestinal distress.

The products of the PostbiotiX® line represent the natural evolution of probiotics, exceeding the limits of conservation, considerable individual variability and latency of clinical response, safety, application limitation and associability with other useful ingredients. They are gluten free, lactose free and bacteria free.

Application- Postbiotics do not contain live bacteria, attenuated bacteria or fungi, and can be easily stored for many months at room temperature. They can be administered in parts of the body where a harmless probiotic could hardly be applied (such as the eye, or mucous membranes in acute inflammation, or in newborns), and can be associated in combination with virtually any other ingredient without known negative interference.

Maintaining dynamic market demands

The Postbiotica® technology (PBTech®) produces different postbiotics from different bacterial strains, and postbiotics functionally different from the same bacterial strain by modulating the conditions of the production process. It is capable of producing wide range of new postbiotics following new scientific evidence on the activity of microbiota bacteria. But, going even further with imagination, it is able to routinely make in-depth analysis of each microbiota to produce general postbiotics for everyone as well as individual personalised postbiotics for specific needs of patients around the world. Last but not the least it allows to obtain a completely natural product therefore meeting the modern concept of sustainability, representing a priority global challenge for all citizens of the world.

Challenges

The most important challenge is to solve people’s health problems naturally without causing any harm. Postbiotics represent a new category with which health professionals and people will have to become familiar, overcoming the habit that until now has led them to use traditional products. Then only people can succeed in adopting a new natural standard of health, in a physiological way, recovering well-being, and preventing numerous pathological states that worsen the quality of life.

In the words of Gianpietro Florenzano, “We want to differentiate ourselves from traditional products, and for now I think we are succeeding, even though we know the road will be long. Of course, it’s not all that simple. Our PBTech® process is very sophisticated and therefore we have the constant challenge of keeping costs under control to be able to offer our innovative products at an affordable price to the public.”

Upcoming market trends

In the healthcare sector, it will increasingly move towards the super personalization of therapies, whether in the field of rare diseases, oncology or in any other area of health. In the field of microbiota science, as scientific insights become wider and more robust, applications that are unthinkable today will multiply, such as in oncology, neurodegenerative diseases of the central nervous system, and so on. Everything that will be made available to doctors and patients will be increasingly supported by accurate and valuable scientific evidence.

Postbiotica is an innovative microbiota biotechnological company providing to patients safe and natural products that offer effective physiological interaction between microbiota and host, ensuring a complete physiological well-being.

Gianpietro Florenzano also shared, “I like to imagine that the road to innovation stems, as it did for Postbiotica®, from a long and robust path of scientific research dedicated to the interpretation of people’s unmet needs.”

Postbiotica® paves the way for research by combining sustainability and natural products that not just strive for healthy living but for total physiological well-being.