- Sep 23, 2019
- 15
- Tinnitus Since
- July 2019
- Cause of Tinnitus
- It started a day after swimming underwater
This drug aims to treat tinnitus. Known by its codename GW-201, it is apparently a substance called Tetrandrine (TET).
Jianxin Bao's Gateway Biotechnology Inc recently received a grant for $972,613 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) which he said allows his team to work toward finding the first drug treatment for tinnitus. He is a researcher and professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), but also has his own company, the aforementioned Gateway Biotechnology, which has several products in the pipeline for preventing and treating noise-induced hearing loss, tinnitus, and Cisplatin ototoxicity:
But let's focus on GW-201.
We're in good hands because, according to this blog post, Dr. Bao often reads Tinnitus Talk:
This was the initial media coverage on him getting the almost a million-dollar grant to treat tinnitus:
NEOMED researcher receives federal grant for first human tinnitus treatment
On the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services you can find the following details on the grant:
Award Number: R44DC018759
Targeting multiple signaling pathways for tinnitus prevention and treatment
Clicking "View Award Abstract" shows more details about GW-201 aka Tetrandrine (TET):
What else do we know about Tetrandine?
Wikipedia says that it has anti-inflammatory, immunologic and antiallergenic effects. It's isolated from the plant Stephania tetrandra and other Chinese and Japanese herbs. It can reduce blood pressure. It's even showed therapeutic efficacy against Ebola in preliminary studies.
When you search PubMed for Tetrandine, you get 968 results, none of which mention tinnitus.
There is, however, the following paper by Dr. Bao, which is about Tetrandrine having otoprotective effects:
Otoprotective Effects of Stephania tetrandra S. Moore Herb Isolate against Acoustic Trauma
When can we expect more developments?
@reggie green reached out to Gateway Biotechnology in February 2020, who then responded:
Jianxin Bao's Gateway Biotechnology Inc recently received a grant for $972,613 from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) which he said allows his team to work toward finding the first drug treatment for tinnitus. He is a researcher and professor of anatomy and neurobiology at Northeast Ohio Medical University (NEOMED), but also has his own company, the aforementioned Gateway Biotechnology, which has several products in the pipeline for preventing and treating noise-induced hearing loss, tinnitus, and Cisplatin ototoxicity:
But let's focus on GW-201.
We're in good hands because, according to this blog post, Dr. Bao often reads Tinnitus Talk:
"For tinnitus-related information, the two scientific websites that I check out often are: 1. Tinnitus Talk 2. PubMed"
This was the initial media coverage on him getting the almost a million-dollar grant to treat tinnitus:
NEOMED researcher receives federal grant for first human tinnitus treatment
"This generous government support will allow us to continue working toward finding the first drug treatment for tinnitus, which is a major health issue for millions of people — including the military personnel who so bravely serve our country," said Bao, who will serve as principal investigator, in a provided statement."
On the U.S. Department of Health & Human Services you can find the following details on the grant:
Award Number: R44DC018759
Targeting multiple signaling pathways for tinnitus prevention and treatment
Clicking "View Award Abstract" shows more details about GW-201 aka Tetrandrine (TET):
It's interesting to note that should Tetrandrine fail at clinical stage, their strategy of optimizing second-generation products built upon Tetrandine and its chemical analogs gives them the opportunity to identify additional drug candidates that might help treat tinnitus.Possible causes of tinnitus are complicated. The current view is that hyperactivity in the central auditory nervous system contributes to the majority of tinnitus cases. This abnormal electrical activity, including an increase in delta-band activity, may be the direct result of an increase in T-type calcium channel activity. Other studies suggest that inflammatory responses within the brain may be involved in the development and persistence of tinnitus; therefore, drug candidates targeting both inflammatory and calcium signaling pathways may act synergistically to prevent and treat tinnitus.
Tetrandrine (TET), an approved drug used in China, exhibits both anti-inflammatory and calcium channel-blocking properties. Using a new tinnitus detection method in mice, we have shown that both salicylate-induced and noise-induced tinnitus can be effectively treated by TET in a dose-dependent manner.
Our hypothesis is that TET or its chemical analogs can be developed as drugs to prevent and treat tinnitus. In our proposed experiments, we have two parallel goals:
(1) obtain investigational new drug (IND)-enabling toxicity and pharmacokinetics data for TET (Aim 1) and
(2) optimize second-generation products with structure-activity relationship studies of TET and its chemical analogs (Aim 2).
Successful accomplishment of Aim 1 will enable TET to advance into clinical development. In addition, the studies of Aim 2 will enable us to identify additional candidates in case TET fails at clinical stages. By targeting multiple cellular signaling pathways that impinge upon tinnitus, our study will open new areas for the treatment and prevention of tinnitus. The extensive body of data publicly available for TET and its analogs will help us significantly reduce development time and costs.
What else do we know about Tetrandine?
Wikipedia says that it has anti-inflammatory, immunologic and antiallergenic effects. It's isolated from the plant Stephania tetrandra and other Chinese and Japanese herbs. It can reduce blood pressure. It's even showed therapeutic efficacy against Ebola in preliminary studies.
When you search PubMed for Tetrandine, you get 968 results, none of which mention tinnitus.
There is, however, the following paper by Dr. Bao, which is about Tetrandrine having otoprotective effects:
Otoprotective Effects of Stephania tetrandra S. Moore Herb Isolate against Acoustic Trauma
When can we expect more developments?
@reggie green reached out to Gateway Biotechnology in February 2020, who then responded:
@HootOwl also reached out to them in February, and got the following response:Thanks for reaching out to us. As of now, the pipeline on tinnitus is still at pre-clinical stage, so it might take another few years. Hopefully, we could get to phase III in the near future!
Best regards,
Andrea Qiu
It's great news that only half a year later from the above correspondence they've been able to raise the additional funding.It was nice to hear from you. Our company is mostly working on the prevention and treatment of noise-induced hearing loss and tinnitus developed as a result of that. As of now, we are not working on regeneration. Our drug candidates are targeting T-type calcium channel, inflammatory response pathways, and ROS/RNS. We are still raising funding to push it to the next stage of research. We also hope that hearing loss and tinnitus could be solved in the near future and our drug could benefit more people like you! Please let me know if you have any additional questions.
Best regards,
Andrea Qiu
Chief Operating Officer
Gateway Biotechnology Inc.