[akrolsmir]

Oh wow -- totally didn't expect one of our grant proposals to be trending on HN! I'm Austin, cofounder at Manifund; we just launched our regranting program last week (https://forum.effectivealtruism.org/posts/RMXctNAksBgXgoszY/...) and are currently looking out for cool grants (like this one!) to fund.

Happy to answer any questions!

[rudyfink]

Why do you think the company never took it to market past testing?

And thank you for looking into this. I recall reading about experiments on the modified bacteria years ago, but then I forgot about it. Until I read your page, I had not realized it died on the vine.

[hrkfmud50k]

> After a single application, this strain persists in the mouth indefinitely, hedging out cavity-causing bacteria

> but the developing company declined to go to market, and instead pivoted to selling once-daily probiotic mouthwash.

sounds like they preferred to sell a recurring subscription vs a one-time sale

[ralfd]

These comments from 2018 say FDA approval was to complicated:

https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=17095954

> The product was being developed by Oragenics, but was shelved in 2014, citing regulatory concerns and patent issues.

[akrolsmir]

I don't have any special insight into what happened at Oragenics (my full context on this application includes what's listed at the link, plus a short call with Aaron about his fundraising plans). There's a little more color on the Wikipedia page for the cavity vaccine: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Caries_vaccine

A few HN commenters seem to think that there's a nefarious explanation where a cavity wonder treatment would be unprofitable to develop; I think that's possible, but also it could just be that the company dropped the ball. Hanlon's razor: "never attribute to malice that which is adequately explained by stupidity"

[RomanHauksson]

Hey Austin, nice seeing you here!