PRAGMA Therapeutics announced today that the company has signed a major collaboration with the Center for Defence Enterprise (CDE), a division of the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory from the UK Ministry of Defence (MOD). Among the top 6 winners over 52 worldwide applicants in the MOD themed competition “detect and treat hearing loss and tinnitus”, through this CDE funded research PRAGMA Therapeutics and CILcare, a French CRO specialized in hearing disorders, aim at demonstrating the therapeutics benefit of PRAGMA’s mGlu7 allosteric modulators in a translational and multi-parametric model of tinnitus.
“Hearing loss and tinnitus are among the most severe disorders that active military members are suffering when returning from military operations. We provide here a unique and innovative therapeutic approach targeting the peripheral and central components of tinnitus that can develop after acute and chronic acoustic trauma” said Sylvain Celanire, Chief Executive Officer of PRAGMA Therapeutics. “We are very grateful to the CDE for its financial as well as preclinical and clinical support in this project. We are thrilled to work with the Defence Science and Technology Laboratory team, and our collaborator CILcare, to advance our program towards prevention and treatment of tinnitus” added Guillaume Duvey, Chief Scientific Officer of PRAGMA Therapeutics.
“The health and wellbeing of UK armed forces personnel throughout their career is very important to the MOD. One particular area of concern is the potential for noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus. In military service loud, impulsive noise can be a specific occupational hazard. PRAGMA Therapeutics innovative approach has the potential to specifically treat and prevent these serious debilitating disorders, in particular tinnitus, which could be of benefit to UK operational forces” said Jim Pennycook, Head of operations for CDE.
Célia Belline, Chief Executive Officer and co-founder of CILcare, commented: “The determination of physiological markers of tinnitus in humans and animals remains a challenge, which the scientific community is strongly focusing on. Over the recent years technical improvements in imaging have led to the determination of activated brain areas following the administration of tinnitus-inducing agents. CILcare with the collaboration of Dr. Yves Cazals and Dr. Arnaud Norena, experts in auditory research and Dr. Christophe Goze-Bac, expert in NMR Spectroscopy and Imaging, have successfully applied and developed further these technics, which progress will directly benefit to the evaluation of PRAGMA Therapeutics’mGlu7 modulators in tinnitus.”
In May 2016, PRAGMA Therapeutics had announced a major funding from the UK Action on Hearing Loss charity for its mGlu7 program to specifically address Noise-Induced and Age-Related Hearing Loss, in collaboration with the Global Center for Speech and Hearing Research at the University of South Florida. Adding tinnitus to the therapeutic potential of mGlu7 modulators, PRAGMA Therapeutics provides a first-in-class treatment to both military and civilian population suffering from severe hearing disorders, tapping into a high growth market of nearly 10 billion euros.
Source: Pragma Therapeutics