March 25, 2020

Geelong, Australia March 25, 2020 – Prevatex Pty Ltd an emerging life sciences company focussed on developing and bringing to market next generation probiotics to restore and maintain healthy maternal and infant microbiomes, is pleased to report the publication in the highly respected international journal Nature Communications of new research linking Prevotella copri in the maternal microbiome with protection against the development off food allergies in infants.

Researchers from the Barwon Infant Study (BIS) – a collaboration between Deakin University, Barwon Health and the Murdoch Children’s Research Institute (MCRI) – examined a wide range of potential causations in infants that developed food allergies and found that material carriage of the bacteria P. copri had the highest significance.

“Maternal carriage of Prevotella during pregnancy associates with protection against food allergy” was published today in Nature Communications.

“This is a pivotal publication in a leading international journal, and it clearly shows that maternal P. copri plays a key role in the development of immune responses and resulting allergies in infants ” said Dr Greg Collier, PhD, Executive Chairman of Prevatex. “This discovery by Professor Vuillermin and his colleagues from the Barwon Infant Study laid the foundation for the formation of Prevatex, and inspires our team as we seek to develop and commercialise probiotic products to assist with the reduction and control of infant allergies and behaviour challenges.”

The publication has sparked significant local and international interest in the discovery, with articles in respected sources including New Scientist magazine and ABC Online.