The Kalamazoo-based Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund announced this week that Ann Arbor-based OtoMedicine Inc. is its eighth investment.

OtoMedicine is a bioscience company that has developed a proprietary product, AuraQuell, to prevent noise-induced hearing loss, one of the most prevalent disabling conditions in the industrialized world. 

More than 80 million Americans and Europeans have clinically significant hearing loss, with one third of this hearing loss coming from exposure to loud noise. Industries with high numbers of noise-exposed workers include manufacturing, agriculture, mining, construction, utilities, firefighting, airline maintenance, music and transportation. NIHL is also a significant issue in the military, with 28 percent of all post-deploying soldiers reporting debilitating hearing loss. Treatment costs for hearing loss and retraining in the United States alone are estimated at $56 billion annually.

Until now there has been no scientifically proven treatment for NIHL. Based upon more than two decades of research and development by Dr. Josef Miller at the University of Michigan’s Kresge Hearing Research Institute, AuraQuell’s proprietary combination of micronutrients provides a NIHL prevention breakthrough.

With the support of the University of Michigan’s Office of Technology Transfer and the Ross School of Business, OtoMedicine was created as a technology spin-off and now has an exclusive license from the University of Michigan to a number of important hearing technology patents. OtoMedicine will develop these as future technologies to treat hearing loss.

Based on extensive data in an animal model, which is highly predictive of human hearing loss, AuraQuell produced a 1,000-fold improvement.  National Institutes of Health-funded, human, clinical trials are under way in the United States and Europe to demonstrate the efficacy of AuraQuell for prevention of hearing loss in human populations exposed to gunfire, aircraft engine noise, recreational and industrial noise.
 In addition, through its Small Business Innovation Research grant program, the NIH has awarded OtoMedicine funding to investigate whether NIHL and age-related hearing loss are linked by common biological pathways that can also be protected by AuraQuell treatment.

OtoMedicine officials said they're now on the hunt for office and lab space in the Kalamazoo area.

The Southwest Michigan First Life Science Fund is a $50 million limited partnership venture fund interested in early stage life science opportunities in southwest Michigan that have demonstrably viable technologies and are committed to establishing a presence in the region. The fund's primary goal is to spur economic development and retain intellectual capital within the area.

More at www.southwestmichiganfirst.com/wmlifesciencecompanies.cfm or www.otomedicine.com.