CILcare strengthens Scientific Advisory Board with four new hearing experts
CILcare, a biotech company specializing in therapies for hearing disorders, welcomes 4 researchers in the hearing field to its Scientific Advisory Board (SAB): Keith Darrow, Stéphane Maison, Aimo Kannt, and Dona Jayakody. Presided by Yves Cazals, formerly employed at the INSERM institute, specialists in psychoacoustics and the treatment of auditory pathologies, CILcare’s SAB will contribute to the development of its synaptopathy pipeline, an early marker of neurocognitive and inflammatory diseases such as Alzheimer’s and Type 2 Diabetes.
The SAB is a resource for CILcare—aiding the company in securing the long-term development of its drug candidates in hearing disorders and more specifically, cochlear synaptopathy.
“I am extremely pleased to preside over CILcare’s Scientific Advisory Board”, states Yves Cazals. “I am convinced that CILcare is perfectly placed to deploy their new strategy for developing their drug candidate pipeline to treat early signs of hearing loss and neurodegenerative disorders linked to aging. I look forward to working with the new Board members and contributing to the preclinical and clinical asset development strategy”.
Celia Belline, CEO of CILcare, adds: “We are delighted to strengthen our SAB with world class specialists in Auditory Science. Their deep knowledge of physiopathology, diagnostics, clinical applications, diabetes, and cognition will allow us to position CILcare as a leader in terms of innovation and research into synaptopathy and associated diseases”.
Reportedly, it was thought that auditory deficiencies were caused by damage to hair cells up until now. These defects can in part be offset by hearing aids, which allow an increase in volume to help compensate for faulty hair cells. The discovery of synaptic and neuronal alterations, which transmit the hair cells’ signals to the brain, have allowed to demonstrate other causes of auditory disorders that affect people who are hard of hearing; these patients can hear but not necessarily comprehend when in a noisy environment. Furthermore, their audiograms show ‘normal’ results after a visit to their ENT doctor or audiologist. There may not be a loss of hearing, but rather a deficit in intelligibility; this means that the capacity to understand what is being said is impacted, especially in noisy environments.
According to the company, the mechanisms of synaptopathy are the subject of many global research projects, as synaptopathy is an early sign of hearing loss, which affects one in four persons over the age of 45. These processes accelerate with age, exposure to noise, the intake of ototoxic medication, and the presence of neurocognitive and inflammatory diseases. In instances of Type 2 diabetes, in over 50% of patients with auditory deficiencies, these deficiencies are mainly attributed to synaptopathy. In cases of cognitive decline, hearing loss is the third leading risk factor towards developing Alzheimer’s, a disease for which synaptopathy is particularly prominent. Representing a major public health issue, this silent epidemic has been highlighted by the WHO, pushing states into action.
CILcare’s SAB will help develop a pipeline of innovative drug candidates and an unprecedented clinical approach for treating synaptopathy, led by CILcare. Bearing knowledge of patient populations in which this disease appears earlier and more intensely, using technological advances in measuring hearing to detect the disease, the SAB will allow CILcare to define digital auditory signatures of affected patients, in particular subpopulations with societal diseases such as type 2 diabetes and cognitive decline, the company shared.
Source: CILcare
Images: CILcare
