AudioCure Pharma, a Germany-based pharmaceutical developer focused on hearing disorders, closed a series A round sized at about €9m ($9.6m) yesterday that featured hearing implant technology provider Med-El.
German public-private partnership High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF) also took part in the round.
Founded in 2010 by Hans Rommelspacher, former head of the department of clinical neurobiology at Charité University in Berlin, AudioCure carries out preclinical research and develops therapies to treat disorders of the inner ear.
AudioCure will use the capital it raised to launch phase 1 clinical trials for a small molecule compound called AC102, which will be tested for use in treating auditory disorders that currently lack approved therapeutic options, including acute hearing loss and acute tinnitus.
Ear, nose and throat clinicians can deliver the drug into the patient’s inner ear without the patient having to undergo surgery.
Med-El will receive exclusive licensing rights and shares in AudioCure, and will collaborate with the company to develop a preventative therapy for electrode insertion trauma, the hearing loss that can result from using an electrode to place a cochlear implant in the inner ear.
AudioCure raised an undisclosed amount of seed funding in 2012 from backers including HTGF as well as entrepreneur and angel investor Jürgen Schumacher.
Ingeborg Hochmair, chief executive of Med-El, said: “We are excited by the potential of AC102 as an ideal candidate to complement our hearing devices. Joining forces with AudioCure is a logical next step in our mission to fight hearing loss and thereby improving patients’ quality of life.”