Marseille, 15 juin 2020 : Vertidiag, nouvelle start-up spécialisée dans les troubles vestibulaires, et CILcare, un CRO de renommée mondiale spécialisé dans le domaine de l’audition, ont annoncé aujourd’hui un partenariat stratégique pour le développement de nouvelles thérapies pour les maladies de l’oreille interne.

Vertigo, hearing loss and tinnitus are diseases affecting the inner ear for which there is still no cure. The inner ear is home to two interdependent sensory organs: the cochlea, responsible for hearing, and the vestibule, responsible for balance. Although the development of novel therapies for the inner ear is gaining more and more interest from life science industries, the field still requires further understanding, especially in auditory and vestibular pathways, as well as suitable animal models before entering clinical trials.
“Both Vertidiag and CILcare have a sense of urgency in defining and delivering solutions to Biotech, Pharma, Medtech companies and Academics, with drug candidates that have the potential to become treatments for patients in the near future. We know that working together will benefit this cause. Our teams share the same values of scientific and operational excellence; they trust each other and are naturally working together towards a common goal” comments Nicolas CHANUT, Vertidiag’s CEO.
The strategic collaboration between Vertidiag and CILcare aims to expand world class preclinical capabilities to develop safe and efficient drug candidates for the inner ear. The collaboration will bring together a highly specialized scientific team and complementary state of the art technologies. This new and unique service offering will provide pharmaceutical and biotech industries with an unparalleled breadth of models and methods for the inner ear.

“The inner ear is responsible for hearing and balance. To make hearing a priority, CILcare’s service offering had to include, in addition to our existing deep expertise of the Cochlea, a deep expertise of the Vestibule, which is rare and requires years of experience and practice. Our partnership with Vertidiag is a great opportunity to combine forces towards a common objective that aims to bring solutions for patients who suffer from ear diseases in the very near future.” comments Celia BELLINE, CILcare’s CEO.

Vestibular disorders account for 1,6% of all medical consultations (2,7% in the 60+ age group). It is estimated that over 14 million individuals suffer from vestibular disorders in the US and Europe alone. These disorders are of varying severity and incidence, ranging from severe one-off occasions (vestibular neuritis) to recurrent vertigo (Ménière’s disease). They are particularly disabling for patients, leading to postural instability in the elderly resulting in harmful falls and certain types of motion sickness. There is currently no efficient and well- tolerated treatment on the market.

Hearing loss is recognized as a major global health concern with an increasing worldwide prevalence, and the absence of approved drugs on the market. According to the World Health Organization, approximately 15% of the adult population in the world has some degree of hearing loss, reaching one in three people aged over 65. In 2050, almost 1 billion people will suffer from hearing impairments. Excessive noise exposure, notably in young people, an aging population, and the intake of ototoxic drugs, are the main factors which increase the prevalence of hearing loss.

About Vertidiag

Vertidiag is one of the leaders in the fight against vertigo. Vertidiag leverages its technological and scientific platform to offer a customized R&D service to meet the needs of its clients in the field of vertigo research. Building on more than 50 years of academic and industrial expertise, Vertidiag offers, in particular, safety tests, proof of concept studies and mechanisms of action studies. For more information, visit: https://vertidiag.com 

About CILcare

CILcare is the world-leading R&D services company specialized in hearing disorders. CILcare has internal R&D project direction capabilities and runs PK, PD, tolerance and ototoxicity studies for drugs, cell & gene therapies, and implantable devices that target hearing loss, tinnitus and otitis. CILcare was created in 2014 by a team of three women, business executives and scientists, who spent most of their careers leading preclinical, clinical and regulatory groups within Big Pharma. Established in Montpellier, Paris, and Boston, the company has become the one-stop-shop partner for pharmaceutical industries, biotechs and medtechs developing new therapies for people with hearing and otic disorders. For more information, visit: https://cilcare.com

Contacts: 

VERTIDIAG : Nicolas Chanut, CEO contact@vertidiag.com 

CILCARE : Marie Peytavy, Marketing & Business Development Director marie.peytavy@cilcare.com