Wow, this is amazing news. I just wanted to highlight a few things that I found most promising while reading through the article. I will focus on the non-regenerative information, as this information is more practical in terms of applicability at the current time (I'm not a professional in the field, so take my personal comments with a grain of salt):
OPI develops novel therapeutics for hearing loss. OPI's lead product, an oral fixed-dose combination of HPN-07 and NAC for treatment of acute sensorineural hearing loss, is scheduled to enter Phase 2 clinical trials in 2016 in Noise-Induced Hearing Loss (NIHL) and tinnitus.
We are initiating a Phase 1b safety and pharmacokinetics trial for our candidate otoprotectant formulation, an oral, fixed-dose combination of two antioxidant molecules HPN-07 plus n-acetylcysteine (NAC). Next, HPN-07 plus NAC will enter a Phase 2 trial next year for the treatment of noise-induced hearing loss. The otoprotection and regeneration programs complement each other well, and the combined programs could mean real advancements in treating acute – and now chronic – hearing loss."
To me, this shows that that research done on NAC with the department of defense is being taken seriously. I have personally been taking Magnesium tablets on a semi-regular basis, but I am seriously considering switching to some type of NAC. We need to make sure we protect our ears in the best way possible, and although I do not know much about this, the medication (amino acid) is used to treat a number of conditions. I found NAC can be purchased on Amazon here:
http://www.amazon.com/Nac-N-Acetyl-Cysteine-600-Caps/dp/B00068GKC8
I found that the Otologic Pharmaceuticals website has a great, relatively understandable description of the science located here:
http://otologicpharmaceutics.com/the-science/
One striking quote from this source:
In light of the potential wide-reaching clinical utility of this therapeutic approach,
we have formulated an oral drug combination consisting of encapsulated NAC and HPN-07, henceforth referred to as NHPN-1010. As described above, this drug combination was found to substantially and synergistically
reduce both blast-induced cochlear and brain injury in regions associated with tinnitus, memory and anxiety (
Du 2013;
Ewert 2012). In previous studies, NAC (
Lin 2010;
Lindblad 2011) and HPN-07 (
Hu in preparation) were shown to individually reduce noise-induced cochlear injury and hearing loss. They were also found to
independently reduce brain injury in rodent models (
Chen 2008;
Clausen 2008) and
NAC was recently shown to reduce blast-induced mild traumatic brain injury (TBI) in humans (
Hoffer 2013).
However, high doses of the individual drugs were required to elicit these efficacious outcomes, thus it was significant to find that a combinatorial therapy (NHPN-1010) gave rise to synergistic effects.
Note the primary take away: High doses of the individual drugs were required to elicit these efficacious outcomes. But, high doses of the individual drugs did
something.
The mention of reversing brain injury is most striking, and although this line of their research is focused on the acute treatment, I do wonder how this drug may help for sub-acute and chronic suffers. There is no clear indication that it even could, but we all know just how brain related T / H / TTTS are at this point (Aut, Trobalt, Keppra).
So to me, I see no reason why we cannot start employing the results of this research in our lives. NAC is widely used, but unfortunately the partner drug seems somewhat obscure: HPN-07 (aparently this was previously called NXY-059). Information on HPN-07 / NXY-059 can be found here:
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Disufenton_sodium
Whether this helps in chronic cases or not, I developed my hearing loss (+T,H,TTTS) from blast trauma just 3 months ago, and after seeing 6 doctors and even explicitly asking for steroids at day 4, I was told "steroids won't work for you" and I actually believed the doctor without doing further research... So, I was not given the steroids until 1.5 months after the accident when a new doctor informed me that the first was incorrect and should not have persuaded me against them, consequently they did not work and I lost my chance at AM-101.
The point is, had I known about the possibility of stocking up on NAC I would have tried this as well. I think we can support all new members by pointing out this research and letting them decide if this is something they'd like to try or not.
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