Frequently Asked Questions
FAQs
Frequently Asked Questions
Questions always come up about events like this, and we want to save you some time by providing you with answers to the most common questions. Don’t hesitate to reach out with further questions by email.
FAQs
Both Health Canada and the FDA today, have only approved FMT for the treatment of C. difficile. However, there are several additional conditions that show compelling research including Autism Spectrum Disorder (ASD), IBD (Crohn’s, ulcerative colitis), IBS and chronic fatigue. There may be a role for FMT in patients with chronic constipation and neurodegenerative disease including Parkinson’s and multiple sclerosis.
Although our main focus is children with ASD, we do accept children and adults with a variety of other conditions providing we feel that based on their medical diagnosis and history that they would be a strong candidate to benefit from FMT. If you want to be considered for FMT treatment for your particular condition, please reach out via our contact form, and we will get back to you shortly to set up a call if appropriate.
Yes, many of our patients come via referral or on the suggestion of their health care providers at home. We welcome referrals and collaboration so please send an email and we would be happy to set up a call and support you in educating your patients.
You will first have to speak with the medical team who will help you in deciding if you, or your child is an appropriate fit for this progressive therapy. To schedule a discovery call, you can go here. Once qualified, and to reserve a treatment spot in our program, we require a payment of $5,000 USD deposit to secure your spot for a set date.
Yes, we currently accept Bitcoin and other cryptocurrency payments on request.
The youngest children we accept are 3 years old, with no upper limit on age, meaning, we work with adult children with ASD as well.
We currently accept 10 – 15 children per retreat, per location, to ensure the highest standard of care.
We ensure a consistent high standard of care across all locations. Choice is often based on preference, travel distance or in some cases, timing and availability on given dates.
Although past families may go public with regard to their treatment results and experience in working with Novel Biome, we do not facilitate conversations between past patients and inquiring attendees as we take patient privacy very seriously. We have been made aware of an independently formed parent advocacy group who have asked us to help make other parents aware of their existence. You can access this group by requesting to join HERE. Please visit and view the many parent testimonials included within that group.
Yes, we are happy to speak with your referring physician to answer any questions they may have as well as to collaborate on the best pre-FMT treatment strategy.
No, due to the fact that we have several treatment destinations, Dr. Klop is unable to be physically present at all locations. However, Dr. Klop advises the location licensed staff members throughout the retreat and is always accessible to answer any of your questions via email.
Some have hypothesized that age- and gender-matched donors may be advantageous, although currently there is no data to support this hypothesis. We constantly study the research to understand how to improve and optimize our donor program. Please visit our “donor screening” information within our site.
Yes, we are committed to ensuring you are able to complete the full 16 weeks of treatment without incident and will support you in collaboration with your medical team at home. You will also have access to our physician's assistant through scheduled consults and via direct messaging through the Charm platform.
We don’t have enough data to suggest whether or not this is helpful or necessary in regards to FMT for the treatment of ASD. With that said, Dr. Klop does not believe repeat FMT treatments are necessary in the majority of cases. Where there may be an exception is if your child had to go on a strong and prolonged course of antibiotics and you saw a regression in their improvement since treatment.
In some cases, improvements can be observed during the first week of treatment. However, as a rule of thumb, most children begin showing improvements in digestive symptoms at 5 weeks and improvement in ASD related symptoms at 8 weeks.
After 4+ years of being involved with FMT, we have not had a single case of a serious adverse event that we can associate directly to the FMT. However, some children experience mild to moderate hyperactivity and tantrums or aggression during the pre-FMT treatment. Additionally, some children may see a temporary increase in symptoms or behaviors during the first several weeks of starting the FMT. We attribute this to a "die-off" reaction and share suggestions to reduce or eliminate these symptoms quickly.
We take a very objective approach to tracking patient improvement. The clinical counsellor on our team uses the standardized Childhood Autism Rating Scale (CARS2) assessment prior to treatment and again post-treatment. Additionally, we use several other standardized measures including the ASD Treatment Evaluation Checklist (ATEC), Quality of Life in Autism Questionnaire (QoLA), and The Gastrointestinal Symptom Rating Scale (GSRS). Further, we have parents track their child’s daily bowel movements using the Bristol Stool Form scale throughout treatment and then again for a two week period at 6 months and 1-year post-treatment.
The most compelling data on the use of FMT for the treatment of ASD was done over a period of 8 weeks of daily FMT dosing. Even with 8 weeks of treatment, there was a decline in the progress made upon stopping the FMT treatments. Hence, we choose to double the treatment window in hopes that it will improve the results patients experience compared to the Arizona State University study. It is possible that some gains will be made in regards to digestive symptoms, but it is unlikely that sustained and meaningful gains will be made in the ASD related symptoms with only 10 enemas.
Each attendee will receive a minimum of 2 donors throughout the course of treatment. This is similar to the protocol by Dr. Adams at Arizona State University. Please view our data on Donor Screening.
Dr. Klop does not believe this is the case, especially when high quality extensively screened donors are used. The majority of the studies to date have only used a few donors per treated individual and still showed benefit. This includes the study done by Dr. Adams and his team at Arizona State University.
Novel Biome has its own high end manufacturing lab facility based in Canada, which is also where the donors reside. Although the retreats take place in another location, we use our qualified donors mentioned above at each of the treatment centers.
Insurance plans do not cover FMT for conditions outside of C diff. You may check with your insurance provider to see if you will be covered under extended insurance. However, we will NOT bill insurance directly. We will provide a detailed invoice at your request.
All medical interventions carry the potential for some risk. FMT is no different. However, the available research indicates that FMT has an excellent documented safety profile in the history of its use when adequate donor screening is performed. Complete informed consent will be given to attendees.
There is no way for us to guarantee that your child will experience gains with FMT. However, based on the available research and Novel Biomes combined clinical experience, the success rates are very high!
Yes, you are responsible for your transportation to and from our treatment location, as well as any costs for food and entertainment you choose to participate in while at the retreat. Additionally, you are responsible for booking your lodging and paying the Hotel directly. There may be some ancillary costs in regards to the pre-FMT treatment but those will be individual depending on what is advised and kept to a minimum.
No, additional therapies are not suggested or offered during the one week of treatment. It is our experience that a one week break from these types of therapies you typically receive at home is beneficial and is a great way to unwind. If you are taking any medication or require certain medical treatments, those will definitely be supported and accommodated!
No. We do not advocate for restrictive or limited diets. The goal upon completing FMT is to add as much diversity in the diet as possible and we will work with you to make that possible.
No, we do not require specific lab tests before attending. Having said that, many children have received many lab and stool tests and we will review those prior to your child’s attendance and in collaboration with our physician's assistant will use these to create a pre-FMT treatment plan. If new or updated labs are necessary, our physician's assistant will discuss this with you and we can support you in ordering those if necessary.
Yes, we do not restrict the number of people who join you. If you need more rooms or an additional transport vehicle for your group, then that will be an expense you are responsible for. Most families come with 1 or 2 adults and in some cases 1 or 2 additional children who are siblings.
No. There is no need for anesthesia during the administration of the enema (enemas are only administered for children who are unable to swallow capsules). The enema is administered by an experienced nurse (see team description above) and takes all of 30 seconds to 1 minute to safely administer. Children often struggle to get away during the administration of the enema as it is an uncomfortable feeling, but this is typical and easily managed during this short period. They should experience no pain at all!
The medical consult and administration of the FMT is all done at a medical clinic within close proximity to the hotel.
In preparation for FMT, we suggest individualized pre-treatment prescriptions including proton pump inhibitors (PPI’s) and antibiotics to be prescribed by your doctor or a doctor we suggest. In the case of PPI’s, studies have shown that some people treated with PPI’s have different types of bacteria in their gut compared to untreated patients, indicating an increased risk of GI infection when on PPI’s.
We seek to be totally transparent in what we do. To this end, we encourage everyone to investigate and research in order to make an informed treatment decision that is best for them. As an example, please see this publicly available, third party, independent overview of FMT for your review. In addition, we include within our website a tab link to a wholly independent parent group who advocate for FMT. By connecting to this group, you can gain further independent insights into the FMT experience.
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We have treatment centres in Mexico, Panama, Hungary and Australia with more coming soon.
