Differential Modulation of the Human Gut Microbiome by Biodegradable Polymeric Excipients

Abdul Basit – Professor of Pharmaceutics, University College London; Simon Gaisford – Professor of Pharmaceutics, University College London; Mine Orlu – Professor of Pharmaceutics, University College London

Introduction:

Pharmaceutical excipients are traditionally classified according to physicochemical or formulation-related properties. Their functional effects on the human gut microbiome remain poorly described. Within the rapidly expanding field of pharmacomicrobiomics, growing evidence highlights the importance of understanding drug–microbiome interactions to mitigate gut-mediated drug metabolism and toxicity and to support the development of gut-neutral therapies. Despite this, excipients within the same degradation or functional class are often assumed to exert comparable biological effects, an assumption that has not been evaluated using human-derived microbiome models.