Drugs that Cure Hearing Loss
Several efforts are underway to develop drugs that can prevent or
treat various types of hearing loss. We've been following some of these
efforts rather closely and will continue to bring you news of these
efforts as it becomes available.
American BioHealth
Auris Medical
Sound Pharmaceuticals
Here are additional stories about drugs that may cure or prevent
hearing loss:
March 2007 - Anti-epileptic drugs may help prevent
and treat noise-induced hearing loss
March 2007 - Genetic hearing loss may be reversible
without gene therapy
April 2007 - Antioxidants: An Antidote for
Noise-Induced Hearing Loss?
June 2007 -
Evidence lacking to guide
treatment for sudden hearing loss
September 2007 -
Quark Pharmaceuticals developing drug to prevent hearing loss
October 2007 - Premier Micronutrient Corporation (PMC)
Releases Hearing Health Supplement to Address Multiple Conditions
Mar 2008 - Hearing Pill to
Undergo More Clinical Trials
June 2008 -
Chemical Combo May Prevent Hearing Loss
April 2009 -
Advances in Otoprotective Drugs
July 2009 - Implanted Pump May Assist Hearing Loss
Treatment
July 2009 - Drug Shrinks NF2 Tumors
September 2009 - Cancer Drug Shrinks Benign Tumors That
Steal Hearing
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September 2007
Quark Pharmaceuticals Inc, a clinical-stage
biopharmaceutical company focused on discovering and developing novel RNA
interference-based therapeutics, announced today that it has expanded its
relationship with the State University of New York at Buffalo, Center for
Hearing & Deafness, which is the company's primary site for the
pre-clinical studies of its product candidate, AHLi-11, for the treatment
of acute hearing loss. Quark initiated its collaboration with the State
University of New York in 2005. The current studies, led by Richard Salvi,
PhD, focus on the in-depth analysis of the effect of AHLi-11 and other
molecules in preventing chemotherapy-induced hearing loss. Based on these
studies, Quark Pharmaceuticals expects to file an IND within 2007 for
AHLi-11 for the prevention chemotherapy-induced hearing loss. AHLi-11 is a
siRNA-based drug that temporarily inhibits the expression of human gene
p53. Cochlear hair cell apoptosis (cell death), a key factor in several of
the more common causes of acute hearing loss, is believed to be induced by
molecular mechanisms most likely associated with p53-dependent stress
response. Inhibition of p53, therefore, is suggested as a potential
modality for the prevention of ototoxic hearing loss, a common side-effect
of certain drugs including aminoglycoside antibiotics and cancer
therapeutics such as cisplatin, as well as acoustic trauma.
Full Story
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April 2009
In the last five to 10 years, there has been a
steadily growing interest in developing drugs to prevent noise-induced
hearing loss (NIHL). This drug development research is based on two
fundamental discoveries related to cochlear pathology caused by noise
exposure. The first is the realization that death of the cochlear sensory
cells following a noise exposure is not random, but rather occurs in a
predictable pattern of programmed cell death called apoptosis (Figure 1).
In apoptotic cell death, the cell disassembles itself, the nucleus becomes
smaller, and the cell membrane remains intact. The second finding is that
exposure to noise triggers the death of sensory cells by producing a
large, persistent increase in toxic reactive oxygen species (ROS) in the
cochlea.
Full Story
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July 2009
Treatment with the angiogenesis inhibitor
bevacizumab (Avastin) reportedly improved hearing and alleviated other
symptoms in patients with neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2). In a paper to
appear in the July 23 New England Journal of Medicine, researchers from
Massachusetts General Hospital (MGH) report that bevacizumab treatment
successfully shrank characteristic tumors in a small group of NF2
patients, the first reported successful NF2 treatment not involving
surgery or radiation.
Full Story
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September 2009
Last year, Edith Garrett could no longer hear her
mother's voice or the sound of a dog barking. She was 22. Four years
earlier, Garrett learned she had neurofibromatosis type 2 (NF2), a
condition characterized by tumors in the nervous system. The benign
tumors, acoustic neuromas, damaged the eighth cranial nerve in one ear.
The result: increasing hearing loss with no prospect of a cure. Having
already lost 92 percent of her hearing, the college student from Atlanta
signed on for an experimental treatment -- a drug therapy federally
approved to inhibit the formation of new blood vessels that feed tumors.
The treatment involved infusions of bevacizumab, a drug marketed as
Avastin that is sometimes used to treat advanced cancers. Dr. Scott
Plotkin, a neuro-oncologist at Massachusetts General Hospital in Boston,
who led the trial, was looking for a medical option for his NF2 patients
with acoustic neuromas. Not only do the tumors threaten hearing loss, but
so can the current therapies, surgery and localized radiation.
Full Story
