Germany-based ear disease therapy developer Acousia Therapeutics has closed a €10m ($11.8m) series B round backed by pharmaceutical company Boehringer Ingelheim’s strategic investment unit, Boehringer Ingelheim Venture Fund (BIVF).
LBBW Venture Capital, an investment subsidiary of German state-backed banking group Landesbank Baden-Württemberg, led the round, which also featured development bank KfW, Creathor Ventures and Bregua Corporation.
Founded in 2012, Acousia Therapeutics is developing drug treatments to combat hearing loss caused by age, noise trauma or ototoxic therapy. Its approach uses cellular regeneration to rebuild sensory hair cells damaged by inner ear diseases.
The capital will be used for research and development, as Acousia prepares its drug candidates for clinical testing. The company’s lead asset, ACOU085, could prevent hearing loss for cancer patients which arises as a side effect of cisplatin-based chemotherapy.
Acousia was founded by Hubert Löwenheim, a regenerative medicine professor in University of Tübingen’s Hearing Research Centre, with support from BIVF and biochemicals services provider EMC Microcollections.
BIVF subsequently led Acousia’s $2.6m series A round in December 2016, investing together with KfW and contract research provider Axxam.