Roseville biopharmaceutical company offers money for stool donations

ROSEVILLE, Minn. — You've heard about donating blood, plasma, or even organs. But there's a bio-pharmaceutical company in Roseville that's offering money for people to donate their stool.

Ignacio Cabrera helps lead Rebiotix's donor program, in which people drop by to drop off a donation; people poop in one of their bathrooms and then get paid for it.

"We're really embracing the awkwardness of this. It's uncomfortable to speak about poop - just saying poop sometimes is awkward, it's funny, but it's helpful here," he said. 

The company compensates $30 per qualifying donation. They're also compensated $50 for taking a COVID test.

Donors can visit up to twice a day for a maximum of 14 donations per week. No appointment is necessary; you can just walk in. The donors also take a COVID test every two weeks and a blood screening every six weeks.

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Patricia Alonso was suffering from Clostridioides difficile —or C. diff. - a germ that infects the colon. Nearly half a million Americans suffer from it each year, and the symptoms are debilitating, even life-threatening. 

"I had extreme diarrhea. I was weak. I barely got off of the couch and I couldn't leave the house because I had to use the restroom so often," Alonso said.

C. diff is also contagious - meaning she couldn't touch her children. Antibiotics helped her the first time, but not for long.

"I experienced my first recurrence a month later. I was put on a different course of antibiotics, the symptoms went away. Three weeks later, it came back again," she said.

Lindy Bancke works for Ferring Pharmaceuticals - Rebiotix's parent company. She says there's a 35% chance a patient who had C. diff. will get it again.

If it does come back, there's a 65% chance it will recur.

Antibiotics treat C. diff. - but they also disrupt the delicate balance in a person's gut - leading to recurrences.

Rebiotix and Ferring wanted to break that cycle with unique research.

"The gut microbiome is one that we actually sometimes refer to as a gut garden. It is a finely balanced, delicately balanced community of trillions of live microbes," Bancke explained.

For a patient with recurring C. diff - the good microbes are missing in their gut - making them sick. But if those microbes are replenished -  the patient can recover.

And where can you find those good microbes? In a healthy person's poop.

Alonso took part in a Rebiotix trial — for what would become Rebyota — the first single-dose FDA-approved treatment for recurring C. diff.

In the four years since - she hasn't had one recurrence.

"I'm so grateful for the donors. They made a huge impact on my life," Alonso said.

All from a small deed — and rigorous work behind the scenes turning that donation — into a life-saving treatment.

While the money is nice for donors - Cabrera says it's the mission - that often becomes the motivation.

The FDA approval for Rebyota happened about a year ago. So with production ramping up — Rebiotix is needing more donors.