Humans Healing Humans

ThaenaBiotic® The world’s first-of-its-kind human-derived postbiotic supplement

Thaena's Origin Story 

It was early 2020, and the world had come to a standstill. For clinicians working in fecal microbiota transplantation (FMT), COVID-19 meant rigorous new safety restrictions, limited testing, and heartbreaking decisions. Our stool bank was frozen, literally. I sat facing a recurrent C. difficile patient whose diarrhea symptoms were relentless. Standard antibiotics had repeatedly failed, and now the pandemic had made live FMT treatments impossible due to unknown COVID transmission risks and a lack of validated testing.

Faced with no alternative, we took the leap. We autoclaved a donor stool bacterial pellet, eliminating pathogens while preserving metabolic byproducts, and carefully administered this sterilized material to our patient. Within a day, his diarrhea resolved. The result was stunning, not just due to symptom relief but because it validated this radical new direction. Suddenly, a theoretical concept had transformed into a viable, first-of-its-kind postbiotic therapy idea—what would later become ThaenaBiotic.

What is Fecal Transplant Anyway?

FMT involves transferring healthy donor stool into the gut of a recipient to restore microbial balance. It gained modern scientific attention largely through the work of Dr. Thomas Borody in Australia during the early 2000s, inspired by a groundbreaking 1958 U.S. case series that successfully treated pseudomembranous colitis. But its roots run deeper: ancient Chinese texts, Turkish medical literature, and veterinary practices have documented fecal transplants for centuries. Even our pets instinctively seek it out when unwell, a self-directed therapeutic instinct called coprophagy. While the “ick factor” historically hindered acceptance, humans have intuitively leveraged the nutrient richness of stool through manure for farming since agricultural beginnings. Popular media, from Vice to NPR and even Comedy Central’s South Park, helped introduce the radical yet logical concept of fecal transplant to the broader American public in the past decade.

My own journey into this field began years before that day in the clinic, treating patients whose lives were transformed by FMT. Those patients experienced resolution of their recurrent C. difficile infections and also found relief from other symptoms like anxiety and depression. The systemic improvements we witnessed pointed to a powerful interplay between gut microbiota and overall health that extended far beyond traditional infectious disease models.

Over the last decade, fecal transplant research expanded rapidly, yielding hundreds of compelling studies. Clinical evidence suggested efficacy for conditions as diverse as hepatic encephalopathy, graft-versus-host disease, inflammatory bowel disease (Crohn's and colitis), Parkinson’s, autism, and even obesity and aging in animal models. These findings began rewriting our understanding of health and human physiology, illuminating profound connections between the microbiome and immune, metabolic, and neurological systems.

Yet, despite FMT’s effectiveness and intriguing potential, access remained severely restricted. Regulatory hurdles, infectious disease risks, and complexities in preserving live bacteria presented significant barriers. It was deeply frustrating to see desperate patients unable to access a treatment we knew could change their lives. This frustration was personal—having navigated chronic pain myself and supported family members through significant health challenges, I knew how even small improvements could dramatically enhance quality of life.

A Paradigm Shift

Given these persistent barriers, we began considering an unconventional solution. What if, instead of preserving live bacteria, we sterilized donor stool entirely and focused exclusively on bacterial metabolites, or postbiotics? This novel approach aligned with emerging thinking in probiotics, where benefits increasingly appeared linked to transient immune modulation rather than lasting colonization.

The leap to sterilization, although radical, was logical. By autoclaving donor stool, we eliminated infectious risks completely, paving the way for safe, stable, and scalable microbiome-derived therapeutics. Our early results were promising: metabolites remained intact post-sterilization, and initial patients showed meaningful improvements.

Since 2017, significant scientific discoveries have supported our hypothesis. Researchers have revealed how bacterial metabolites such as indoles, short‑chain fatty acids, kynurenines, and tryptamine shape gut immunity. Expanded mapping of enteroendocrine‑neural circuits further explains how these metabolites relay signals beyond the gut, influencing systemic physiology, particularly through the gut-brain axis. This shift suggested that therapeutic effects might not exclusively require live bacteria or bacterial viruses (phage).

Today, metabolite-focused microbiome research continues to expand rapidly. New studies regularly highlight the critical roles microbial metabolites play in immune regulation, neurological health, and aging. Bacterial-derived neurotransmitters and hormones are now recognized as fundamental players in human physiology, unsurprising given that humans evolved alongside microbes, borrowing and adapting bacterial metabolic pathways to sustain life.

ThaenaBiotic Evolves

Over the years, we continuously refined our approach. We moved beyond simply sterilizing donor material and began meticulously characterizing preserved metabolites through metabolomics analyses. We initiated robust preclinical safety assessments and mechanistic studies to understand how these postbiotic compounds exerted their effects. Each iteration improved our understanding and allowed us to optimize formulation and production methods.

Simultaneously, we embarked on extensive outreach, education, and collaboration. Attending over 50 practitioner-focused conferences, we introduced our novel concept to more than 500 healthcare providers. These collaborations were invaluable as providers began using our postbiotic supplement across diverse patient populations. Practitioners consistently reported fascinating and impactful outcomes in conditions ranging from gut-brain axis issues like anxiety and brain fog to autoimmune symptoms and motility disorders. This continuous feedback loop enhanced our confidence in the product’s safety and efficacy and inspired ongoing innovation.

Though we remain at just the beginning—perhaps only 5% of our understanding of microbiome complexity—our experience so far has been profound. Hundreds of patients report life-changing benefits, from improved digestion and mental clarity to overall wellness. Minimal adverse effects and enthusiastic patient feedback have solidified our confidence in this novel approach.

Looking forward, our mission at Thaena extends beyond symptom relief alone. We envision broad applications and the continued development of refined postbiotic-centered solutions, from addressing global malnutrition to supporting health in remote or extreme environments such as space travel. ThaenaBiotic represents just the first product in what we hope will become a next-generation pipeline of postbiotic therapies. Request our science and safety data to learn more.

An invitation to join us

Today, after scaling manufacturing, obtaining patent approval, and refining internal systems, we find ourselves at a remarkable milestone—a new beginning. With direct-to-consumer availability and significantly reduced wholesale provider pricing, our goal is clear: provide safe, scientifically validated microbiome support accessible to everyone. Our journey has always been guided by a fundamental belief in reducing human suffering through innovative, thoughtful science. Now, we're excited to open the doors even wider.

We invite providers and patients alike to experience the transformative potential of microbiome care. Whether you're a clinician looking to enhance your patient toolkit or someone personally seeking better gut health, we welcome you to join our community. Together, we can push boundaries and redefine the future of microbiome science and patient care.

Become a Provider Today!

Once you become a Thaena® Provider, you gain access to our Provider Portal which will become your central hub for navigating the Thaenaverse™. The Provider Portal gives you access to our exclusive wholsale pricing, patient portal referral links, and contains information about ThaenaBiotic® and its applications in practice, the microbiome, and more.