A battle of the bowels

As human excrement emerges as one of the most promising sources of therapeutics, doctors and drug makers are getting down and dirty in a fight over how best to classify treatments derived from it, the New York Times writes. 

Are fecal transplants that work to cure bacterial infections like C. difficile a drug, or are they more along the lines of organs that are transplanted from one human to another? The FDA’s decision on this classification will dictate how they’re priced, who oversees their use, and who can make money off of this burgeoning new field. What say you? 

As we learn how to enhance and customize the fecal microbiome, the products resemble biologic drugs more than mere feces.

Feces should be treated as organs or blood — and should not offer the same profits as a novel drug.