section_path: Antibiotic pipeline/Replenishing the antibiotic pipeline and developing other new therapies/Fecal microbiota transplants
section_name: Fecal microbiota transplants
paragraph_text: Fecal microbiota transplants
  
  Fecal microbiota transplants involve transferring the full intestinal microbiota from a healthy human donor (in the form of stool) to patients with C. difficile infection. Although this procedure has not been officially approved by the US FDA, its use is permitted under some conditions in patients with antibiotic-resistant C. difficile infection. Cure rates are around 90%, and work is underway to develop stool banks, standardized products, and methods of oral delivery. Fecal microbiota transplantation has also been used more recently for inflammatory bowel diseases.