Allied Minds Establishes New Company To Commercialize Novel UC Irvine Tinnitus Therapy
10-Jun-2009
Boston, Massachusetts - Allied Minds has established SoundCure, Inc. to improve the lives of people suffering from tinnitus (ringing in the ear). Allied Minds, a seed investment corporation specializing in early stage university business ventures who will provide the initial funding, has partnered with the University of California at Irvine to establish SoundCure, Inc. to commercialize a novel acoustic therapy for the treatment and suppression of tinnitus originally developed at UC Irvine.
Tinnitus is a debilitating disease characterized by a ringing in the ear in the absence of any external sound. It is believed that over 17% of the general population suffers from tinnitus and based on a recent report from the Department of Veterans Affairs, tinnitus is now the #1 disability affecting returning troops. While tinnitus can affect anyone, it is more common with increasing age and occurs at higher rates with individuals who work in noisy environments or listen to loud music for prolonged periods of time.
SoundCure is actively developing technology that was first pioneered at the University of California at Irvine by Dr. Fan-Gang Zeng and Dr. Qing Tang as a treatment to quiet the ringing in their patient’s ears. Of the many available treatments for tinnitus few can provide any relief beyond simple masking (providing a sound louder than the tinnitus) while others require the use of long retraining regimes or the use of powerful drugs with similarly dangerous side effects. The SoundCure technology does not require sounds louder than the tinnitus being treated and uses customized sound frequencies and pulsed tones to counter the effects of tinnitus. The technology has been shown to provide long-term suppression of tinnitus through as little as one treatment.
"We are very excited about the contribution that SoundCure will make to stem the terribly debilitating affects tinnitus has on its patients. SoundCure will also pioneer a transformational way technology can be applied to treat disease and provide patient care only dreamt of in the past," said Allied Minds COO, Marc Eichenberger. To learn more about SoundCure please visit www.soundcure.com.
About Allied Minds, Inc.
Allied Minds is a seed investment company creating partnerships with select universities to fund corporate spin-offs resulting from successful early stage technology research. By providing corporate development support as well as funding, Allied Minds aims to guide early stage companies to commercial success, thereby generating value for all stakeholders. For more information, logon to www.alliedminds.com
About the UC Irvine, Office of Technology Alliances
The UCI Office of Technology Alliances (OTA) exists to foster faculty/industry alliances and commercialization of UC Irvine technology for the broad public benefit. OTA emphasizes accessibility, timeliness, and flexibility in its operations and negotiations to ensure that the federal, state and private investment in UCI research has the greatest possible positive impact on people and the economy.
For more information contact;
Marc Eichenberger
COO
Allied Minds, Inc
(781)353-6404
marc.eichenberger@alliedminds.com
Ronnie Hanecak
Director, Life Sciences
Office of Technology Alliances
(949) 824-1233
rhanecak@uci.edu