Decibel Therapeutics and Cocoon Biotech Announce Collaboration to Develop Proprietary Formulations for Delivery of Medicines to the Inner Ear

BOSTON, Jan. 7, 2019 /PRNewswire/ -- Decibel Therapeutics and Cocoon Biotech today announced a research collaboration to apply Cocoon’s proprietary silk fibroin platform to the development of therapeutics for hearing and balance disorders. As part of this agreement, Cocoon and Decibel will jointly conduct research into drug formulations optimized for transtympanic delivery to the ear, and Decibel will receive an option to exclusively license the technology on a program-by-program basis. For each licensed program, Cocoon will receive an upfront license fee, as well as development milestone payments and downstream royalties on programs that advance.

“The unique properties of silk protein as an excipient offer the potential for the prolonged and controlled release of a therapeutic compound into the middle ear, where it can then be absorbed into the inner ear,” said John Lee, executive vice president of pharmaceutical development at Decibel. “In those instances where transtympanic delivery of a drug is the right approach, we believe that Cocoon’s platform has the potential to maximize therapeutic exposure of our medications while minimizing the frequency of injections.”

“Our silk fibroin platform has the potential to transform our ability to formulate, deliver, and stabilize molecules across a range of therapeutic applications in human health, animal health, consumer products, and agriculture, with resulting improvements in manufacturing processes, safety, and efficacy,” added Ailis Tweed-Kent, M.D., chief executive officer of Cocoon. “We are excited to work with Decibel in applying this technology to hearing and balance disorders.”

About Decibel Therapeutics, Inc.
Decibel Therapeutics has established the world’s first comprehensive drug discovery, development, and translational research platform to discover and develop therapeutics to protect, repair, and restore hearing. To serve the over half a billion people globally living with hearing loss and related disorders, Decibel is committed to creating a world in which the benefits and joys of hearing are available to all. Decibel is headquartered in Boston, Mass. For more information about Decibel Therapeutics, please visit www.decibeltx.com or follow @DecibelTx on Twitter.

About Cocoon Biotech, Inc.
Cocoon Biotech, a privately-held biotechnology company based in Cambridge, Mass, is advancing silk fibroin as a material science platform with broad applicability across human health, animal health, agricultural, and consumer applications. Silk’s unique material properties enable the extended delivery of therapeutics, and its chemical and physical properties support unique innovative applications. Silk fibroin is a natural, eco-friendly, biodegradable, and biocompatible material enabling products that have the ability to transform lives and the world in which we live. Cocoon’s lead therapeutic programs are focused on next generation products in ophthalmology. Given the broad therapeutic relevance of the platform, the company also has ongoing collaborations with several global pharmaceutical companies across human and animal health. For more information, please visit www.cocoonbiotech.com.

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SOURCE Cocoon Biotech; Decibel Therapeutics