Irish medtech group Neuromod Devices has raised €10 million equity financing to expand the availability of its tinnitus treatment device.
The company said the financing, which was oversubscribed, was led by existing investors Fountain Healthcare Partners, which is an Irish life science venture capital group, and Panakès Partners, a venture capital fund based in Milan.
Tinnitus, which is characterised as a persistent ringing in the ears, is a complex neurological condition that causes a perception of sound when there is no external source. It affects about one in eight people.
The group’s treatment device, Lenire, has been shown to soothe and relieve tinnitus in large-scale clinical trials.
It works by delivering mild electrical pulses to the tongue through an oral component, as well as by providing auditory stimulation through headphones. This combination drives changes in the brain to treat tinnitus.
The device costs about $3,000 with the tongue tips replaced by customers as a consumable roughly every three months.
The recent financing comes two years after the company raised €30 million to bankroll its expansion into the US market just weeks after the Lenire device was granted approved by the Food and Drug Administration, which is the US regulator.
Neuromod, which is an NUI Maynooth spin-out that was founded in 2010, has since been making the product available throughout the US and Europe.
Proceeds from the new financing will be used to meet demand for Lenire through commercial expansion in both regions, as well as to expand on existing business in the US Department of Veteran Affairs, with tinnitus a particular problem for former soldiers.
More than 100 clinics throughout the US treat tinnitus patients with Lenire, while clinics in 14 European countries also use the device. The number of clinics in the UK trained to use it has doubled in the past six months, and it is now available in Sweden for the first time.
Neuromod chief executive Dr Ross O’Neill said tinnitus was the “largest unmet need” in hearing healthcare globally and is the “number one service-connected disability” among US veterans and military personnel.
Dr Manus Rogan, chairman of Neuromod and managing partner of Fountain Healthcare, said recent results from tinnitus patients using Lenire show that it represents “a new standard of care” for the condition.
Results from Alaska Hearing and Tinnitus Centre showed that 91.5 per cent of 220 patients reported clinically significant improvement in their tinnitus. This data was consistent with, and in many instances outperformed, data from Lenire’s large-scale clinical trials.
Emily McMahan, owner of Alaska Hearing and Tinnitus Centre, said “impressive clinical trial results” for Lenire led her to take on the treatment technology from an early stage.
“In my clinic, and my colleagues’ clinics, we are seeing results that are superior to clinical trial results,” she said.
Alessio Beverina, managing partner of Panakès, said the group was “pleased with the progress” of Neuromod since its investment.
