Holtzman Still Not Ready For Retirement – Now to Head Decibel
Despite dressing casually in a Hawaiian print shirt, Steven Holtzman said retirement has not suited him well — which is why the biotech vet recently announced that he is taking the helm of Cambridge, Mass., hearing loss startup Decibel Therapeutics. Decibel’s new CEO is a recent Biogen alum, who also founded Infinity Pharmaceuticals and led the business development team at Millennium Pharmaceuticals.
Armed with a boatload of cash — Decibel raised $52 million in October from Third Rock and GlaxoSmithKline’s venture arm — Holtzman plans to lead the company’s efforts to delve into the molecular pathophysiology of hearing loss and develop new drugs.
On questioning Holztman about what drew him to Decibel — and about the company’s plans, he replied that “Up until now, we have hearing aids and cochlear implants — but there are no therapeutics to address hearing loss. What really drew me: This is a completely white space. … [It’s] a huge medical need, but also a societal need.”
From the youngest people to the oldest, spoken words and music are our means of self-expression and communication. These are impeded by hearing loss. It can cause isolation and depression. Holtzman revealed
that he had personal experiences with hearing loss; his sister was born with a fairly profound hearing loss condition, and as someone in his early 60s, he has lost most of his ability to pick up high-frequency sounds, and has trouble hearing some speech and noise.Some of the indications Decibel is chasing is ototoxicity, one of its targeted market. There are about 200 commonly taken drugs that cause hearing impairment. For example, some platinum chemotherapies for pediatric cancers that can cause total hearing loss in children. Then there’s a larger population: noise-induced hearing loss, like what’s experienced by soldiers, or the loud noise from music you hear in stadiums.
Currently, Holtzman and his team are putting together a platform that will allow them to address all of these things over time. But ototoxicity is high on their list and they are indifferent to therapeutic modality — it could be a biologic, a small molecule or nucleic acid based — but what they are starting with is trying to understand the underlying biology to learn targets for intervention.
When asked on his immediate plans as CEO, Holtzman reported that the company was looking to hire about 100 people by 2017 and are beginning discussions with other pharma companies, to see if opportunities for collaboration are available. They received $52 million, and with it are creating a great senior management team which he says is critical.
