Make It Ten: Acousia Therapeutics
Hello, can you hear me? CAN YOU HEAR ME? If not, this is probably because you are reading this. But actually an estimated 10–15 % of us in the developed world suffer from hearing impairment, predominantly caused by the irreversible loss of sensory hair cells in the cochlea of the inner ear. Our portfolio company Acousia Therapeutics, an investment from our CV IV fund, is here to change this, developing innovative therapies to treat and prevent sensorineural hearing loss. Learn more about Acousia in this interview with Tim Bölke, CEO and CMO of the company.
#1 Tim, please introduce Acousia Therapeutics in less than 10 words.
We are pioneers in developing medicines against hearing loss.
#2 What was the initial impetus or motivation to start Acousia and what is your vision with it?
Hearing loss is a fastly growing medical and socioeconomic burden to society and affected individuals. To date treatment is symptomatic and limited to different kinds of hearing aids but direct, causal therapy is lacking. We are inspired to develop drug-based solutions protecting patients from progressive hearing loss and ultimately restoring normal hearing via regenerative approaches.
#3 What company-related recent accomplishment are you most proud of?
The team and I are particularly proud of the fantastic and robust results achieved in very challenging preclinical experiments over the last couple of months. We are co-located with the preclinical lab facilities of the ENT university clinic in Tübingen and thus benefit from additional skill sets plus highly spezialized equipment and methods for testing drug candidates in vivo. Based on the recent progress by our cross-functional team of experts we will be able to test our lead compound in first patients already by early 2020.
#4 Five years from now, what will Acousia look like? What will you be doing yourself?
We strongly believe that our specific drug target in the inner ear provides Acousia Therapeutics with a by far higher than industry average chance of technical development success. Therefore, Acousia Therapeutics will be in the late stages of clinical development, pre-registration, having closed the next significant financing round based on positive proof of concept in patients or having become an integral part of a larger fully integrated pharmaceutical company.
I will be focusing on preparing the market for a first-in-its-class launch together with international key opinion leaders and patient advocacy groups and managing a diverse team of scientists, developers and marketeers to make this a breakthrough success for patients.
#5 Can you name three adjectives that describe the working culture at Acousia?
Purpose-driven, diverse, professional.
#6 Can you name a detail that nobody really talks about but that is nonetheless crucial for the success of a company?
Diversity: For a company in the end it boils down to dedicated, open-minded teamwork to find innovative solutions for today’s more and more complex challenges. In my experience, the more diverse a team is in terms of background, characters, education and training the better the solution jointly designed and executed.
#7 Which technological solution are we still missing in our lives?
Truly personalized medicine, but it is on its way.
#8 What is worth spending time on other than Acousia?
Aside of sports: quality time with family and friends.
#9 Why did you choose Creathor as an investor?
I came on board as Acousia Therpaeutics` CEO only after Creathor had joined our investors, but I would have chosen them for their 30 years of experience and proven track record in European healthcare investments.
#10 Make it 10! There must be something that you have always wanted to ask us. What is it?
Tim: What triggered your Series B investment into Acousia Therapeutics in 2018?
Karlheinz: Acousia is best positioned to develop first-in-class drugs against inner ear diseases and associated pathologies. In addition, Acousia’s translational approach, its experienced team, the productive setting within the University ENT clinic of Tübingen and the excellent investor syndicate convinced us.
Thank you, Tim!
If you would like to learn more about our other investments and our current investment focus, please visit www.creathor.com and get in touch if you think we could be a match.
