Decibel Therapeutics, a Cambridge, Mass.-based newly formed hearing company focused on discovering and developing new medicines to protect, repair and restore hearing, is being launched with a $52m Series A financing.
The round was led by Third Rock Ventures, with participation from SR One.
Led by Kevin Starr, chairman and interim chief executive officer, and partner at Third Rock Venturer, Decibel Therapeutics combines innovations in hearing science with diagnostic tools, biological insights, modeling and therapeutic delivery techniques to define the underlying biological causes of hearing loss and develop a pipeline of new drugs targeted to specific indications and patients.
The company has already identified one near-term clinical candidate and several other targets for assessment. The company’s focus will include pediatric cancer and cystic fibrosis patients who commonly experience ototoxicity, or hearing loss as a side effect of treatment; noise-induced hearing loss; residual hearing preservation or improved sound fidelity to address issues commonly associated with cochlear implants; presbycusis, or age-related hearing loss; tinnitus, a persistent ringing in the ears; and genetic hearing loss.
Decibel was co-founded by preeminent experts in inner ear biology and hearing disorders, including:
– M. Charles Liberman, Ph.D., Schuknecht Professor of Otology and Laryngology at Harvard Medical School (HMS) and Director of the Eaton-Peabody Laboratories at Massachusetts Eye and Ear (MEE);
– Gabriel Corfas, Ph.D., Director of the Kresge Hearing Research Institute, University of Michigan;
– Ulrich Müller, Ph.D., Kershaw Professor of Neuroscience; Chair, Department of Molecular & Cellular Neuroscience; Director, Dorris Neuroscience Center; and Member, Skaggs Institute for Chemical Biology at the Scripps Research Institute; and
– Albert Edge, Ph.D., Professor of Otology and Larynology, HMS and Director, Tillotson Cell Biology Unit, MEE.
In addition to Starr, the company’s leadership includes Michael Solomon, Ph.D., chief operating officer; Leslie Shinobu, M.D., Ph.D., chief medical officer; and Ada Silos-Santiago, M.D., Ph.D., vice president of pharmacology.
FinSMEs
15/10/2015