Science · Fecal microbiota transplant
A trial of transplanted gut bacteria was stopped early — it was working too well
In a 2013 trial for recurrent Clostridium difficile infection, patients given a donor stool infusion to restore their gut microbiome recovered at a far higher rate than those given the standard antibiotic alone. The difference between groups was so large that the trial's safety board stopped it before full enrollment, on the grounds that withholding the transplant from the control group was no longer fair.