Frequency Therapeutics raises $42m for hearing regeneration drug

Frequency Therapeutics said today that it closed a $42 million Series B round to support the clinical development of its hearing regeneration drug, FX-322.

The company is slated to publish top-line data from an ongoing Phase I/II study of FX-322 in the first half of the year.

The Series B round was led by Taiwania Capital Management and Axil Capital. New investors Yonjin Capital and DF Investments also joined the round, as well as existing investors such as Polaris Founders Capital and Alexandria Venture Investments.

In total, the Woburn, Mass.-based company has raised $87 million.

“Our team is highly motivated to make a positive impact for the hundreds of millions of men and women worldwide who experience sensorineural hearing loss,” president & CEO David Lucchino said in prepared remarks. “This significant financial support from a strong global syndicate as well as our existing investors allows us to advance our lead hearing program into Phase 2 studies in 2019.”

In connection with the round, the following people have joined Frequency’s board: Joel Marcus, executive chairman & founder of Alexandria Real Estate Equities and Alexandria Venture Investments; Michael Huang, managing partner of Taiwania Capital Management.

The company also noted that Fred Shane, a partner at Axil Capital, and Daguang Wang, managing director of Yonjin Capital, joined the board of directors as observers.

In October last year, Frequency finished enrolling participants in a single-dose safety trial for FX-322.

The company’s drug candidate emerged as part of its Progenitor Cell Activation platform – the combination of small molecules are designed to activate progenitor cells and trigger the formation of new hair cells in the inner ear.

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