Hough Ear Institute's Hair Cell Regeneration Project

[Chriscom]

That is awesome news! Thank you!

 

[Chriscom]

I'm not the first to say it.

JohnAdams, master of understatement lol.

 

[Kev]

I realize this sounds stupid but I wonder how much the rights to this drug are and if the Tinnitus Talk community could raise enough to buy it from Hough Ear Institute If we started our own company, what would stop us from obtaining the rights and funding/running our own clinical trials? Probably several logistical and financial barriers lol but some of us (myself included) are getting desperate.

 

[MrCrybaby]

II realize this sounds stupid but I wonder how much the rights to this drug are and if the Tinnitus Talk community could raise enough to buy it from Hough Ear Institute If we started our own company, what would stop us from obtaining the rights and funding/running our own clinical trials? Probably several logistical and financial barriers lol but some of us (myself included) are getting desperate.

It would make far more sense to just donate to Hough Ear Institute. This is a volunteer run forum and managing a biotech/pharmaceutical company is out of our depth. We'd be looking at tens of millions of dollars that we just don't have, never mind the total lack of experience.

Be optimistic that someone with the experience will finish it through trials!

And maybe you can donate to Hough Ear Institute? That's all we can do.

 

[HootOwl]

@Hazel

Can we possibly add the issue of expanded use to the list of questions? It seems like we see more and more severe sufferers on this thread as of late...

 

[IAmCalifornia]

I realize this sounds stupid but I wonder how much the rights to this drug are and if the Tinnitus Talk community could raise enough to buy it from Hough Ear Institute If we started our own company, what would stop us from obtaining the rights and funding/running our own clinical trials? Probably several logistical and financial barriers lol but some of us (myself included) are getting desperate.

Man bro I don't mean to piss on your parade but this will never, ever happen. We can't even band together on basic common causes like donating to researchers, coming up with paltry numbers at best.

 

[Artemis2K]

I am very excited about this, but I also don't want to have to wait until I'm 30 to possibly get my life back together lol...

 

[FGG]

Man bro I don't mean to piss on your parade but this will never, ever happen. We can't even band together on basic common causes like donating to researchers, coming up with paltry numbers at best.

There is also the fact that they have already partnered with a biotech company who has the rights to it.

 

[3times]

Thank you for the interview, it's great!

Question that comes to my mind and what according to clinical tests (https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT02259595) can the doses used be totally different during marketing? there they are between [500mg; 1500mg] without NAC, so we can assume that they will be in this interval during phase 2? , or can it be totally different?

 

[Watasha]

Podcast recording with Hough Ear Institute now confirmed for 24 January!

Of course bear in mind we'll need 1-2 weeks after that still for editing, transcription, creating marketing collateral, etc.

Feel free to keep adding questions to this thread, we'll still include them if we can.

And try to keep the speculation in check until we've had a chance to hear directly from Hough Ear Institute and give them the opportunity to answer your questions first.

My understanding is that they lost funding for the next phase of their trials. If true, what can we do to help?

 

[IAmCalifornia]

Hello, Hough Ear, I have a few questions:

1. Are you in communication with other leading researchers in the tinnitus field?

2. Will this help only a certain subset of sufferers, like strictly noise induced, or will Meniere's, TBI, etc. also be helped?

3. Realistic, no holds barred timeline?

THANK YOU!

 

[Buzzy1]

My understanding is that they lost funding for the next phase of their trials. If true, what can we do to help?

Oh no hope this isn't true. Can anybody clarify the current position? Surely there must be funding out there? So many of us are literally suffering on a daily basis, with more joining us every day.

Feeling very disappointed and at a complete loss. Having a bad tinnitus day today.

 

[Artemis2K]

I'm curious on how it even regenerates the hearing. If it originally was meant to just protect it and the regeneration was an unexpected bonus, why did that happen? Is it possible for that to occur in other ways? I am reminded of that organ in the chest that was regenerated by accident from research intending to slow down the epigenetic clock. These two similar outcomes makes me believe that it might not be as hard to reverse damage and aging in the human body as we thought. Makes me optimistic.

 

[Watasha]

Oh no hope this isn't true. Can anybody clarify the current position? Surely there must be funding out there? So many of us are literally suffering on a daily basis, with more joining us every day.

Feeling very disappointed and at a complete loss. Having a bad tinnitus day today.

Maybe @JohnAdams can clarify.

There are many reasons not to feel at a complete loss, most of us have been there. This is the best time in tinnitus research history and momentum is growing. In the meantime, do what you can when you can to further the cause (and that can be done in lots of ways that you wouldn't think).

 

[HootOwl]

I'm curious on how it even regenerates the hearing. If it originally was meant to just protect it and the regeneration was an unexpected bonus, why did that happen? Is it possible for that to occur in other ways? I am reminded of that organ in the chest that was regenerated by accident from research intending to slow down the epigenetic clock. These two similar outcomes makes me believe that it might not be as hard to reverse damage and aging in the human body as we thought. Makes me optimistic.

I also find the method of regeneration fascinating. I hope Dr. Kopke can elaborate on the science more in the podcast.

If you dig through their patent you'll find these 2 sections regarding this discovery that it could be regenerative and not just preventative. @JohnAdams mentioned this a few pages back as well.

FIG. 23 shows HPN-07 and NAC reversed noise-induced excitotoxic loss of IHC ribbon synapses in vivo. A one-time noise (8-16 kHz for 2 hours at 110 dB) caused 30%-40% loss of synapses at higher frequencies in Sprague Dawley rats. HPN-07/NAC treatment reversed the damage. Comparisons were made between Noise alone group and Noise+HPN-07/NAC group. ** and *** represent p<0.01 and 0.001, respectively. Twenty-four hours post injury ribbon synapse loss is permanent so recovery must be regenerative.

FIG. 33 shows HPN-07 and NAC reversed noise-induced synapse loss in vivo. In this experiment, five doses of HPN-07/NAC treatment appeared to be more effective than two doses in reversing the noise-induced synapse loss. Comparisons were made between Noise alone group and Noise+HPN-07/NAC group (5 doses). ** represents p<0.01

 

[Badger19]

I'm still very skeptical but please let this be true. Curing hearing loss with a simple pill would be amazing.

 

[Artemis2K]

I'm still very skeptical but please let this be true. Curing hearing loss with a simple pill would be amazing.

I'm optimistic. However, the whole pill thing will make me wonder why it took so long for it to be discovered if it gets commercialized. Then again, the simplest solutions to major problems are possibly regularly discovered anyways no matter how baffling they are.

 

[Ozwel]

I am very excited about this, but I also don't want to have to wait until I'm 30 to possibly get my life back together lol...

Lol, I was 20 when tinnitus started after a night in a club. I was like you with imagination about the year 2020 and cars flying. The reality is that I'm 34 today and we're in 2020, research did not find anything in 15 years... (and cars are still not flying). I read about promising treatments every year for 15 years.

Yet, I still hope we find something but I don't expect something before 2030 and later. Nothing is found yet and when we will find it's a matter of 5-6 years to get the solution delivered in hospitals or medical shops.

I wouldn't have liked my old me telling this to my young me though. So pardon my pessimism.

 

[Ozwel]

Can we confirm that? If true, can we figure out exactly how much they need? If they need 100 million dollars, we aren't going to be able to donate that.

Why should a phase 2 cost so much? Press some placebo pills, get some volunteers, give the pills, and then test their hearing in a few months and report the results.

What's the cost expenditure there?

Staff and doctors have bills to pay, they don't work for free, especially when it takes years.

 

[Artemis2K]

Lol, I was 20 when tinnitus started after a night in a club. I was like you with imagination about the year 2020 and cars flying. The reality is that I'm 34 today and we're in 2020, research did not find anything in 15 years... (and cars are still not flying). I read about promising treatments every year for 15 years.

Yet, I still hope we find something but I don't expect something before 2030 and later. Nothing is found yet and when we will find it's a matter of 5-6 years to get the solution delivered in hospitals or medical shops.

I wouldn't have liked my old me telling this to my young me though. So pardon my pessimism.

Just when I started having these issues is when a lot of scientific breakthroughs with the ear have started to come up. Within the last five years we've been bombarded with these discoveries, to a point where we know it's possible to reverse hearing loss, it's just a matter of how. We weren't this close before.

I'm optimistic.

 

[MRItechssuck]

Lol, I was 20 when tinnitus started after a night in a club. I was like you with imagination about the year 2020 and cars flying. The reality is that I'm 34 today and we're in 2020, research did not find anything in 15 years... (and cars are still not flying). I read about promising treatments every year for 15 years.

Yet, I still hope we find something but I don't expect something before 2030 and later. Nothing is found yet and when we will find it's a matter of 5-6 years to get the solution delivered in hospitals or medical shops.

I wouldn't have liked my old me telling this to my young me though. So pardon my pessimism.

Exactly... same here... 20 years ago there was nothing. I was lucky that after 4 years my tinnitus basically disappeared. I had 15 years of freedom when my kids were young... no as they go into high school I am worse than ever because of a medical mishap.

I revisit tinnitus 20 years later and the lack of progress is demoralizing.

Never lose hope. That's what keeps many of us hanging onto life, even though we suffer greatly.

Oh the hope ship sailed already...the only reason I'm "here" is because I have a family relying on me.

 

[Samir]

Never lose hope. That's what keeps many of us hanging onto life, even though we suffer greatly.

 

[Samir]

The love of money is the root of all evil.

Reminds me why Facebook is evil... Don McMillan has the proof.

Skip to 4:56 for the proof... or just enjoy the whole show, it's great.

 

[Samir]

Oh the hope ship sailed already...the only reason I'm "here" is because I have a family relying on me.

That's as good a reason as any. If you don't have hope, then give them something to hope for. In turn this will give you hope too.

 

[MRItechssuck]

How can a "pill" really have any effect for such a specific part of the body without collateral damage to other systems and organs?

I guess this is one reason why I'm not all that hopeful about a "pill."

 

[HootOwl]

I'm still very skeptical but please let this be true. Curing hearing loss with a simple pill would be amazing.

There's a lot to look forward to, but just remember that this drug is only targeting one specific type of hearing loss and we are still somewhat unsure of the therapeutic window for chronic sufferers.

 

[Artemis2K]

How can a "pill" really have any effect for such a specific part of the body without collateral damage to other systems and organs?

I guess this is one reason why I'm not all that hopeful about a "pill."

That's a good question, and yet they've already got so far.

How can a "pill" really have any effect for such a specific part of the body without collateral damage to other systems and organs?

I guess this is one reason why I'm not all that hopeful about a "pill."

From my understanding the pill neutralizes some function that holds back the body from regenerating while also providing extra protection and enhancement in cell function, allowing regeneration to occur. I could be wrong though. You're right to be suspicious, but they've already tested it a good bit and have reported no side effects, if I have read correctly.

 

[mrbrightside614]

My question: have they heard about the launch of the Hearing Medicines Discovery Syndicate here?

 

[Rb86]

How can a "pill" really have any effect for such a specific part of the body without collateral damage to other systems and organs?

I guess this is one reason why I'm not all that hopeful about a "pill."

One could argue this about basically any pill that's already on the market. The tech is out there.

 

[Buzzy1]

Maybe @JohnAdams can clarify.

There are many reasons not to feel at a complete loss, most of us have been there. This is the best time in tinnitus research history and momentum is growing. In the meantime, do what you can when you can to further the cause (and that can be done in lots of ways that you wouldn't think).