Regeneron to buy Decibel Therapeutics

Biotech Regeneron agreed Wednesday to pay $109 million for Boston-based Decibel Therapeutics, the third buyout in the past year of Massachusetts companies developing treatments for hearing loss. At the start of 2020, a trio of local biotechs — Decibel, Akouos, and Frequency Therapeutics — jockeyed for position in the vanguard of hearing restoration, drawing on expertise from Harvard, MIT, and Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary. With the acquisition of Decibel, which has a gene therapy in clinical trials, all three have now been acquired, though their research will continue under new owners. Dr. Bradley Welling, a neurotologic surgeon at Mass. Eye and Ear who tracks the research, said he views the acquisitions of Decibel and Akouos as a vote of confidence in the companies’ progress from larger buyers with deeper pockets. Welling said scientists have been identifying a growing number of mutations that hearing loss drugs can target. Regeneron, based in Tarrytown, N.Y., had already been collaborating in Decibel’s drug discovery. On Wednesday, it said it would purchase Decibel outright for $4 a share of common stock, payable in cash. It also agreed to an additional $3.50 a share in milestone payments, sometimes called “biobucks,” linked to the success of Decibel’s gene therapy, boosting the deal’s potential value to $213 million. Regeneron plans to keep the Decibel office in Boston and its employees will become Regeneron employees, said Regeneron spokesperson Alexandra Bowie. Decibel had a staff of 68 last year, according to the data firm PitchBook. “The acquisition comes less than a month after Lexington-based Frequency agreed to be absorbed by venture-backed Korro Bio of Cambridge through a reverse merger in which Korro will take over Frequency’s public stock listing by the end of the year. That deal came after Frequency’s experimental treatment to rejuvenate damaged hearing cells failed to outperform a placebo in a clinical trial, forcing the company to wind down its operations. Last October, drug giant Eli Lilly said it would buy Akouos for $487 million. It also agreed to additional payments totaling $123 million, contingent on the success of Akouos genetic medicines to treat inner ear disorders. That transaction was completed last December.