InfectoPharm Invests in AudioCure to Advance Innovative Hearing Loss Therapy

Drug candidate AC102 in the clinical phase

There is currently no drug approved worldwide for the treatment of sudden hearing loss. However, preclinical and clinical phase-1-studies with the innovative drug candidate AC102 have been promising. AudioCure Pharma, a Berlin-based start-up supported by investors, is driving forward research and development. Now, InfectoPharm, a successful medium-sized company, is joining as a new and essential competence partner. The Heppenheim-based ENT specialist is leading the new round of financing and is strengthening the existing group of investors, which includes main investor MED-EL and seed investor High-Tech Gründerfonds (HTGF). The main goal of the collaboration is to successfully advance the clinical development of AC102, a drug for sudden hearing loss.

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Investors in the current financing round with AudioCure Management. From left to right: Philipp Zöller (CEO InfectoPharm), Prof Hans Rommelspacher (founder AudioCure), Dr Reimar Schlingensiepen (CEO AudioCure), Dr Ingeborg Hochmair (CEO MED-EL) and Dr Christian Kannemeier (Senior Investment Manager HTGF). Copyright: AudioCure.

The investors are not only providing AudioCure with financial support for the development of new drugs, but are also expanding its knowledge base with their respective scientific and commercial expertise. MED-EL Medical-Electronics and InfectoPharm Arzneimittel are contributing their extensive expertise gained from over 30 years in the ENT field. Dr Reimar Schlingensiepen, CEO of AudioCure, is delighted: ‘AudioCure and its partners complement each other perfectly. Together, we can advance our research and development activities even further and develop innovative active ingredients. We are also pleased to now have InfectoPharm's many years of experience in the pharmaceutical industry on board.’

The additional funds will mainly be used for the further development of the drug candidate AC102. This has already been successfully tested for tolerability and safety in humans and is currently being investigated in a Europe-wide phase-2-study for its efficacy in sudden hearing loss patients. In preclinical models of hearing loss, AC102 was able to restore hearing almost completely, exceeding the efficacy of conventional corticosteroid therapies. Philipp Zöller, managing partner of InfectoPharm Arzneimittel und Consilium GmbH, comments: ‘As a specialist in pharmaceutical products for ear, nose and throat conditions, we are very familiar with the difficult situation of sudden hearing loss patients. We are therefore delighted to be able to support the development of a potentially groundbreaking drug like AC102, both financially and with our expertise, as part of the AudioCure investor team.’

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