GlaxoSmithKline gets 25% stake in spin-out firm Autifony

UK pharma giant GlaxoSmithKline (LSE: GSK) has invested £1.25 million ($2.1 million) to receive a 25.4% minority equity stake, in Autifony Therapeutics, a UK-based biotechnology start up created through a funding round of up to £10 million alongside investors Imperial Innovations and SV Life Sciences.

With the funding, Autifony, which is specializing in hearing loss and tinnitus, will be able to speed up its preclinical development program on the ear's ion channels, which convert mechanical vibrations into brain signals and affect tinnitus. Among its co-founders are former GSK executives Charles Large, former director of molecular and cellular biology at the drug major, and Giuseppe Alvaro, who was chemistry leader at its neuroscience division.

Currently no treatments for tinnitus