Lindus Health and Oto launch remote trial to combat tinnitus

London, UK, 14th September: Digital health company Oto and clinical trial start-up Lindus Health today announced the launch of a fully remote, digital trial to increase patient access to life-changing tinnitus therapy.

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Tinnitus, which is often described as “ringing in the ears”, can have a significant impact on everyday life, causing problems such as insomnia and depression. In Europe, persistent tinnitus is estimated to affect 1 in 8 people, around 15% of the population.

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There is currently no cure for tinnitus. 

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Through their digital, evidence-based cognitive behavioural therapy (CBT) program, Oto’s tinnitus specialists combine first-hand experience with professional expertise to increase patient access to tinnitus management and reduce self-reported distress and illness severity. 

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The trial will see 198 patients across the UK take part in a fully-remote, digital study to assess Oto’s smartphone tinnitus management programme against therapist-delivered CBT in achieving improvement in self-reported tinnitus severity in adults. 

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Lindus Health is responsible for delivering the trial end-to-end, including protocol draft, data collection and management, recruitment, and trial monitoring. 

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Commenting on the trial, Michael Young, Co-Founder of Lindus Health said: “As tinnitus continues to be an issue blighting around 15% of the UK population - and with no single cure in sight - this trial will be fundamental in helping those who suffer to better manage their symptoms. 

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“With the ability to offer a fully-remote trial, we’re helping people from all over the UK to gain access to life-changing coaching - with our process delivering clinical trials three times faster than the industry standard”. 

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Edmund Farrar, CEO at Oto said: "This trial represents a significant milestone for Oto, allowing us to be the first to conduct this groundbreaking tinnitus research. We hope this will provide the scientific backing to accelerate our mission of giving people their lives back from tinnitus."

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Mr Matthew Smith, Consultant ENT surgeon in Cambridge and Chief Investigator for the trial said: “This clinical trial is really exciting as we are testing an entirely remotely delivered therapy that would have little limit on expansion to enable far more patients to be treated, whilst still maintaining much of the personalisation of therapy that tinnitus patients benefit from. 

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With the support of Lindus Health, the trial itself is an exemplar in technology enhancing clinical trial efficiency, and we have been able to set up and start recruiting at a very fast rate, reaching all corners of the UK, and ensuring both a diverse population of participants and equitable access to all tinnitus sufferers.”

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If the Oto tinnitus management programme is shown as effective as standard one-to-one tinnitus therapy, this could have real benefits in terms of providing both healthcare providers and a far greater number of affected individuals with patient-focussed, cost-effective treatment. 

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About Lindus Health 

Lindus Health is a London-based start-up, launched in 2021, that runs clinical trials three times faster than the old-fashioned industry standard – bringing ground-breaking treatments to patients more quickly.

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Clinical trials are the biggest bottleneck to advances in healthcare and by removing this constraint they aim to improve health for everyone. Lindus does this by using its pioneering industry-first platform that can manage a trial from start to finish. 

Lindus Health has to date delivered more than 80 trials across the UK, US and Europe to tackle a range of conditions including diabetes, asthma, acne, social anxiety, major depressive disorder, hypertension, chronic fatigue syndrome and insomnia. 

The company was named after James Lind, who pioneered the first clinical trial and treatment for scurvy, and co-founded by Michael Young, a former No 10 Special Adviser on Life Sciences, and Meri Beckwith, a former Venture Capitalist focused on biotech. 

The company has raised $24.5m from investors including Peter Thiel, CREANDUM, Firstminute Capital,  Presight Capital, Seedcamp, Hambro Perks, Amino Collective and Calm/Storm. 

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About Oto

Oto is a UK-based startup that has been revolutionising the way people manage tinnitus through personalised, expert-built digital Cognitive Behavioural Therapy (CBT) programs. The app has already helped thousands of people forget about their tinnitus, with over 86% of users reporting they 'feel better' within one month.

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Media coverage:

• Hearing Health & Technology Matters

• Digital Health

• The Hearing Review

• ‍Pharmiweb

• Pharmaphorum‍‍‍

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For more information, please contact:

Michael Young, Co-Founder at Lindus Health

michael@lindushealth.com