IBT announced opening of the additional cohort, having included 1,400 premature infants of the total 2,158 recruitment target. Up until now, and per the protocol agreed with regulatory authorities, the Connection Study has recruited infants with birth weights between 500 grams to 1,000 grams. Now with 1,400 recruited infants, the study expands to also include infants with a birth weight between 1,001 grams and 1,500 grams. This is expected to increase the recruitment momentum, increasing the company's confidence in the current target recruitment timelines. IBT continues to break new ground in its mission to deliver the first pharma grade probiotic to prevent life-threatening disease of premature infants such as NEC and to promote healthy growth and development by improving feeding tolerance.

In 2014, IBT became the first company in the world to receive US Orphan Drug Designation for the prevention of NEC and, in 2018, the first company to receive FDA approval to administer live bacteria to infants in a Phase III clinical trial in the US, called the Connection Study. IBT's unique ability to develop pharmaceutical grade probiotics was further validated by the permission to expand the Connection Study globally to 10 countries across EU, USA and Israel.