Lausanne hospital produces drug from faecal bacteria
Lausanne hospital produces drug from fecal bacteria
Keystone-SDA
Select your language
Generated with artificial intelligence.
Listening: Lausanne hospital produces drug from faecal bacteria
In Lausanne, severe intestinal inflammation is treated with pills made from faecal bacteria. The University Hospital of canton Vaud (Chuv) is the first Swiss hospital to receive approval for the production of such drugs from donor stool.
This content was published on
2 minutes
Keystone-SDA
Deutsch
de
Lausanner Spital produziert Medikament aus Fäkalbakterien
Original
With the granting of marketing authorisation for faecal microbiota transplantation (FMT) by the medicines authority Swissmedic, the hospital will become the first accredited centre in Switzerland, the hospital announced on Monday.
This method involves transplanting the intestinal contents of a donor with healthy bacteria into the damaged intestine of another person. The faecal pills are used to treat intestinal infections with the bacterium Clostridium difficil, a disease that often leads to severe diarrhoea. These infections also have a high relapse rate. According to the Chuv, around one in four patients falls ill again after treatment.
The treatment of such infections with a faecal microbiota transplant has proven to be significantly more effective than conventional treatment with antibiotics, according to the university hospital. The cure rate is up to 95% compared to 30% when treated with antibiotics alone.
To produce the medication, Chuv employees collect stool samples from donors and isolate the healthy bacteria in the laboratory.
The selection process for stool donors is strict: only around one in ten potential donors is ultimately accepted, according to the Chuv.
The costs of treatment with such medication are not yet covered by health insurance. According to the University Hospital, an application to this effect has been submitted to the Federal Office of Public Health.
Translated from German by DeepL/ts
This news story has been written and carefully fact-checked by an external editorial team. At SWI swissinfo.ch we select the most relevant news for an international audience and use automatic translation tools such as DeepL to translate it into English. Providing you with automatically translated news gives us the time to write more in-depth articles.
If you want to know more about how we work, have a look here, if you want to learn more about how we use technology, click here, and if you have feedback on this news story please write to english@swissinfo.ch.
Popular Stories
More
Life & Aging
Zurich: how the world capital of housing shortages is tackling the problem
Is your place of origin, your Heimatort, important to you?
Every Swiss citizen has a Heimatort, a place of origin, but many have never visited theirs. What’s your relationship with your Heimatort? What does it mean to you?
In Switzerland more people are being referred to electrical therapies or psychedelic-assisted psychotherapy. Are there similar approaches where you live?
Ex-sect member sentenced in Zurich for sexual abuse
This content was published on
Zurich District Court has sentenced a former member of the globally active sect "Children of God" to a partial prison sentence.
SNB chairman does not rule out slowdown in Swiss growth
This content was published on
Martin Schlegel, chairman of the Swiss National Bank (SNB), does not rule out a weakening of the Swiss economy in light of the tariff dispute.
Swiss NGOs abroad to receive 10% less federal funding
This content was published on
In 2025 and 2026, Swiss NGOs will have 10% less federal funding available for international cooperation than in the previous two-year period.
Swiss parties spent less than CHF1 million on February green vote
This content was published on
Swiss political parties spent CHF 700,000 ($840,000) on campaigns in the run-up to the overwhelmingly defeated vote on February 9, according to the Swiss Federal Audit Office.
This content was published on
Swisswool, the largest Swiss wool processor, is not accepting any wool for the first time this spring. For many sheep farmers, the only option is to get rid of the wool.
You can find an overview of ongoing debates with our journalists here . Please join us!
If you want to start a conversation about a topic raised in this article or want to report factual errors, email us at english@swissinfo.ch.