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Biotech start-up Teitur Trophics, a spinout from Aarhus University, has received a significant Eurostars grant for a new project to develop treatment for hearing loss.
Teitur Trophics has secured €2 million in funding for the RE-HEAR project. The project focuses on the development of novel peptide-based treatments targeting hidden hearing loss and age-related hearing loss. Collaborators in the project include French biotech company CILcare and the University of Applied Sciences Northwestern Switzerland (FHNW).
“There is an urgent need for new treatments for neurodegenerative diseases, which have a detrimental impact on the lives of millions of people around the world, with serious consequences for quality of life and life expectancy,” said Simon Mølgaard, CEO of Teitur Trophics in 2023, when the startup closed an investment round of over DKK 200 million.
Teitur Trophics uses their patented peptides that have the potential to create long-lasting therapeutic effects through targeted activation of the SorCS2 receptor. This could benefit patients with sensorineural hearing loss, a condition typically caused by damage to the inner ear or auditory nerve. The grant will be used to conduct preclinical studies, including tests of delivery methods as well as studies of the peptides’ effects both in the laboratory environment and animal models.
The project will run for 36 months and is expected to start in April 2025. CILcare and FHNW will provide advanced hearing loss models to test the new peptides, while Teitur Trophics will lead the overall development.
