Let us just hope the GenVec trial started a snowball effect.
http://www.dizziness-and-balance.com/disorders/bilat/regeneration.htm
Quote: "this is not accompanied by functional improvements in hearing (Atkinson et al, 2014). The hair cells generated are not functional."
End quote.
I am confused now.
I distinctly remember different Pubmed summaries where hearing was improved after haircell regeneration in animals. Also I read that the new haircells connect. (They have to in order to improve hearing threshold).
Most of all: will GenVec/Novartis start clinical trials in humans when there was no improvement in hearing threshold in animals?
This is exactly what I'm asking myself too.
If there were no signs of hearing regeneration, why doing human trials? I asked this question to a hair cell researcher. He mentoined, that nobody else in the field could regenerate hearing using Atoh1 and that this is likely to fail...
He just mentioned, that they probably hide something in their labs because if there is a commercialisation it's not public anymore.
I also found following article which sounds interesting, but I don't think Genvec is using this method.
http://journals.lww.com/thehearingj...ser_to_a_Gene_Therapy_for_Hearing_Loss.6.aspx
Another top notch researcher I don't want to undisclose said, that the have much better ways to regenerate almost any form of deafness/hearing loss in the pipeline.
From what I read one of the biggest problem is to regenerate sufficient number of hair cells in the adult cochlea.
But as soon researchers can screen drugs in an "ear in a petri dish" or equivalent I think they have many good candidates.
With tools like the Draper Pump they could apply it to the inner ear.
I think a lot of critical tools and drug candidates are here, the next year gonna be exciting!
Another thing mentioned in an article I read that Novartis invested 500 Mio Dollars in Atoh1 research... I don't know if it's true or if Atoh1 research is just used for ears...