CILcare boosts R&D for ear pathologies

CILcare specializes in ear pathologies. The young Montpellier startup carries out R&D on medical drugs and devices to treat hearing loss, tinnitus, and otitis. The innovative company was founded by three former managers from Sanofi: Celia Belline, Marie-Pierre Pasdelou, and Sylvie Cosnier-Pucheu. The first two were R&D project directors; the third was a pharmacology manager. They decided to leave the major international group to create their own business in Montpellier in 2014. Today, CILcare is the only CRO (Contract Research Organization) in the world exclusively positioned to handle hearing disorders, serving the pharmaceutical industry as well as biotech and medtech companies.

“We test the efficacy and safety of drugs in the pre-clinical testing phase,” says Celia Belline, CEO of CILcare.  “We also study the toxic effects of drugs on the ear, which is the case for 300 molecules with poorly known side effects.”

466 million people around the world suffer from hearing loss, that is, 15% of the population. The WHO predicts that one billion people will be affected by 2050.
 

“The main factors are the aging population, use of ototoxic drugs, exposure to noise – especially young people, and infections (otitis),” explains the CEO.