BRIEF — Akouos raises $50 million for hearing loss research

Boston-based Akouos, a precision medicine company developing gene therapies that restore and preserve hearing, has raised $50 million in Series A financing.

Seed investors 5AM Ventures and New Enterprise Associates co-led the round, and were joined by existing seed investor Partners Innovation Fund and new investors Sofinnova Ventures, RA Capital Management and Novartis Venture Fund.

Proceeds from the financing will allow the company to advance its lead program to first-in-human clinical studies, and to accelerate the development of multiple pipeline programs that address other forms of sensorineural hearing loss with validated mechanisms and gene targets.