BRISBANE, AUSTRALIA-- March 02, 2023 -- Microba Life Sciences Limited (ASX: MAP) (“Microba”), a precision microbiome company, is pleased to announce that it’s next generation testing product range, MetaXplore has been launched to healthcare professionals in Australia under a new brand, Co-Biome™. This delivers on the new healthcare product launch milestone prefaced in the FY22 Annual Report and updated in quarterly reports following the closed beta release in June 2022.

Microba’s Chief Executive Officer, Dr Luke Reid said, “The new MetaXplore test range delivers an important advancement in how microbiome test information can be applied in a healthcare setting. We continue to make progress at the forefront of this field to advance the application of microbiome testing in a healthcare setting towards a future where it can be routine in health and disease management, much like a blood test is today.”

The new MetaXplore range provides diagnostic gastrointestinal health testing together with metagenomic-driven gut microbiome analysis to deliver comprehensive gastrointestinal testing solutions for Healthcare Professionals. The MetaXplore  test range has been developed together with healthcare professionals and brought to market under a new brand called Co-Biome.

The range consists of 3 products: MetaXplore, MetaXplore GI and MetaXplore GI Plus. Key features include:

- Easy to interpret report format designed specifically for healthcare professionals to support efficient patient consultation

- Scientifically graded clinical insights using National Health and Medical Research Council guidelines

- Diagnostic and investigative gastrointestinal health markers (faecal calprotectin, faecal occult blood, lactoferrin, pancreatic elastase, secretory IgA, Zonulin, Fecal pH)

- Diagnostic pathogen and parasite detection (E.coli pathotypes, C.difficile pathotypes, Campylobacter spp., Yersinia enterocolitica, Vibrio spp., Aeromonas spp., Salmonella spp., Giardia lamblia, Entamoeba histolytica, Cryptosporidium spp., Dientamoeba fragilis, Cyclospora cayetanensis.)

- Complete microbiome profiling (Microbial diversity, richness and profiling of over 28,000+ microbial species including bacteria, fungi, parasite and archaea detection, together with parasite detection of Blastocystis subtypes 1-9 and other eukaryotes)

- Microbiome production and consumption of metabolites (Butyrate, acetate, propionate, 3-indolepropionic acid (IPA), hexa-acylated, lipopolysaccharides (hexa-LPS), trimethylamine (TMA), hydrogen sulphide, branched-chain amino acids (BCAA), B.fragilis toxin, methane, beta-glucuronidase, Mucin, oxalate)

A core component of Microba’s strategy is to leverage the Company’s world-leading technology and capability to advance the clinical application of microbiome testing to become embedded as a routine part of health and disease management. The MetaXplore test range through Co-Biome represents an important step forward in that strategy by breaking new ground in the application of microbiome testing in healthcare.

Microba’s Chief Scientific Officer, Assoc Prof. Lutz Krause said, “These new tests integrate traditional gastrointestinal pathology tools with Microba’s next generation microbiome testing technology and the latest global research to significantly advance the utility of microbiome testing in a healthcare setting. This test range is expected to significantly expand the total addressable market for Microba’s testing products.”

The test range through Co-Biome™ can be accessed in Australia through a healthcare professional, and following the launch, it is expected to then be rolled out through Microba’s growing international distribution partner network.