Pharma, Startups

UW spinout is hoping a drug could stave off hearing loss caused by antibiotics

University of Washington spinout Oricula Therapeutics said today it’s secured funding and intellectual property that […]

University of Washington spinout Oricula Therapeutics said today it’s secured funding and intellectual property that will allow it to move forward with developing a way to prevent hearing loss associated with a class of antibiotics called aminoglycosides.

Aminoglycosides are low-cost antibiotics that have historically been highly effective in treating infections caused by gram-negative bacteria, such as drug-resistant tuberculosis. But they can also cause irreversible damage to the sound-sensing cells in the inner ear. As many as 10 to 20 percent of patients who take them experience permanent hearing loss, according to Oricula.

The company posits that if it could develop a co-therapy to protect the tiny, hair-like cells in the inner ear during the course of treatment without interfering with the bactericidal effects of aminoglycosides, it could enable broader use of them. And it estimates that it could do so at a price of about $20 a day in the U.S. and $2 a day in the developing world.

Oricula’s underlying technology was discovered and developed by a multidisciplinary team of researchers at Washington University, with funding from NIH and Washington’s Life Sciences Discovery Fund. They conducted their early research on zebra fish, whose hair cells have many properties in common with the inner ear hair cells of humans and other mammals.

Founded in January 2013, Oricula is still in very early stages of preclinical development. According to its website, the researchers have shown proof of concept in rats and are advancing to efficacy and dose-range safety studies in rats. Then they will select one candidate to advance into full preclinical development.

A rep for the Seattle-based company declined to provide a time frame for when that might happen, or details on the funding.

About 48 million people in the U.S. experience some degree of hearing loss. Otologic Pharmaceuticals and Sound Pharmaceuticals are among other companies developing drugs to treat and prevent hearing loss, but they are focused on noise-induced hearing loss.

[Image credit: BigStock Photos]

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