Hough Ear Institute's Hair Cell Regeneration Project

I must say it does seem very interesting that they haven’t commented on this. It could be they are avoiding answering and telling porkies on by bending the truth like they did with the trial process and also again with the financing for this study.

 

What I'm wondering is if there was a way to measure tinnitus, wouldn't that open up the ability to rightfully sue doctors and pharmaceutical companies whose "treatments" either caused or worsened people's conditions.

 

Probably not if it’s listed as a side effect.

 

Agreed but if doctors don't inform you or give you the information to find that out as was part of my case with microsuction and Ciprofloxacin and Nabumetone, then the liability falls with them.

 

I’ve attempted to reach Oblato Inc several times to inquire about future trials. The internet states they have 1 employee, $28,000 annual budget, and the CEO is Won Suk Yang.

What’s going on here, is the size of this company normal in this field?

Do they have a team to make something happen? Maybe they need to be questioned where they’re at on their end?

 

Which site are you using? A lot of these “data” sites are extremely inaccurate and use awful algorithm crawlers that pull data from subpar sources. The company I work for has shown up as having 13 employees one and 50 on another (both are grossly wrong). And the annual revenue and budgets the site reported were so far off you would think the business would have already gone bankrupt.

Despite the severe lack of transparency Hough Ear Institute has displayed, I would say with confidence that there is no way that Oblato is a one-man operation. If they truly are an established biotech firm.

 

Oblato is interestingly enough also developing a brain tumour medicine and this has also been acquired from another Oklahoma based firm as well.

What I think you need to consider is two things about Oblato and their operations:

1. Oblato is actually a subsidiary of GTreeBNT and as a result although it is strange to see Oblato only having one employee, it is not surprising or even necessarily abnormal. At this time it appears Oblato is set up probably to run GTreeBNT operations in the US, however it wouldn't be surprising to not see Oblato expand until the time comes to actually commence the clinical trials. It is also possible that Oblato may actually use GTreeBNT's resources to assist with completing the clinical trials such as staff. Hence this could be why Oblato hasn't appointed any of their own staff for this and is actually just using Oblato as their legitimate front for the US operations.

2. Hough Ear Institute is also controlling a lot more of the trials than we are actually led to believe. I wouldn't be surprised by this since Hough Ear Institute have seemingly been the ones dictating stuff like that the tinnitus proof of concept study needing to be done prior to the commencement of the clinical trials. Thus I wouldn't be surprised if Oblato was taking a back seat with this stuff at present.

Having said that, I think Hough Ear Institute is at the moment making quite quick progress suddenly with their pill. This is evident by the fact that the proof of concept study could now be finished in 6 to 12 months and also that seemingly there could be a quicker progression to clinical trials too. Hough Ear Institute has indicated that the trials will commence post the proof of concept study. However the question still remains whether it was Hough Ear Institute, Oblato or both organisations that decided to proceed with required operations much more quickly than previously anticipated.

Anyway I can consequently see something happen with the pill pretty quickly. I strongly believe that Hough Ear Institute and/or Oblato will move quickly with this treatment if it is successful like they claim because they face potential challenges from competitors otherwise, especially for the synapse component of the medicine.

 

Might as well be $2,800 and Sun Wu Kong.

 

Hough Ear Institute interestingly is indicating on their Facebook page they want donations again for the pill.

This is getting quite interesting now that they still apparently need funding, yet have started the proof of concept study for tinnitus that they said wouldn't get funded until they got the required amount donated and have also said that the study timeframe will now be 6 to 12 months.

My view is that this is just getting really interesting, yet ridiculous at the same time too. I think Hough Ear Institute has the funding lined up for this, otherwise they wouldn't have been able to start the study.

Something tells me that this tends to be an attempt at just getting more money out of people now to mitigate their costs.

 

Well that's shady af. Why put our faith in a company that resorts to these kinds of tactics.

 

I don't blame them for wanting to gain funds to fund the proof of concept study as a not for profit entity. What I do dislike though is the consistently changing positions from Hough Ear Institute. It is essentially seeming more and more like a case of them being disingenuous about what is really going on. I believe them that they have started the study. Still what I don't know is what will happen if they do not obtain the required donations by the time that the trial ends. Essentially they can try to collect more donations for all I care, just as long as the study gets done and isn't protracted because of the lack of funding.

 

If all goes well, would Hough Ear Institute's pill be able to help current tinnitus patients who have had acoustic trauma?

 

I think that they are attempting to treat noise-induced tinnitus.

Though the question remains whether the additional component in the medicine is what will treat tinnitus or whether it is just going to be the regrowth of the synapses. Seems that this won’t get answered until the pill gets tested.

Also we will very likely have a better understanding of the effects of synapses on tinnitus when we find out about the benefit that other synapse only treatments provide to tinnitus like PIPE-505 or OTO-413 because if these mitigate tinnitus then it tends to tell us that the synapses alone actually are what has a large effect on tinnitus.

 

Hi. I am new to the forum. I emailed Justin from Hough Ear Institute to ask about this. Here is the email response he gave me a couple weeks ago:

Hi Mica,

Yes, we believe we have found a way to objectively measure the presence of tinnitus. That method however is not something I can share or expand on.

I can tell you that one of the prevailing theories for tinnitus is the lost of meaningful nerve connection between the cochlea and the auditory nerve. Our pill restores those meaningful connections.

At your service,
JUSTIN DE MOSS, M.A., CFRE
Chief Philanthropy Officer

 

This gives further guide that this treatment is a synapse treatment. This is not surprising that Hough Ear Institute cannot disclose the method of measuring as it is going to compromise the trial then.

 

Either they use some brain scanning like qEEG or they managed to find a way to diagnose damaged synapses. I can't think of anything else they could have discovered.

 

There is apparently also a way you can measure the loudness of the tinnitus from what I have been told. The tinnitus testing mechanism would be interesting to know more about, however if it is just a synapse medicine and synapse regrowth improves tinnitus then it is possible that you would be able to determine if people’s tinnitus improved if you simply regrew the synapses.

 

I’m wondering whether this drug or any synapse drug will have a positive effect on the Vestibular system as well. If they repair nerve endings wouldn’t that affect this area as well?

 

Do you think diagnostics of tinnitus and cochlear synaptopathy Hough Ear Institute speaks about could be based on electrocochleography? Does any of you have experience with it?

 

It may certainly have a positive effect as the ears do have an influence on balance too. There are investigations into treatments for the vestibular system also being undertaken.

 

Was there ever any clarity provided on this topic? I had the same thought.

 

Justin from Hough Ear Institute clarified this. He said it was an unexpected finding (possibly off target effect).

 

Oblato, what’s going on? Where’s the clinical trial? Are we waiting for COVID-19 to sweep through? Other companies are moving forward with pace I might add. Let me hear the COVID-19 excuse.Pull the trigger and make something happen.

 

This would be a miracle.

 

I think the bullshit is starting to show now. When companies can still continue to carry on with clinical trials, Hough Ear Institute and Oblato are using COVID-19 as an excuse for not starting. Definitely something fishy is going on.

 

Otonomy and Frequency Therapeutics are going to beat Hough Ear Institute. They're shooting themselves in the foot.

 

To be fair and out of interest, aren’t Hough Ear Institute currently conducting the proof of concept study which they have stated should be finished within 6-12 months of starting it (March-September next year)?

The discussion and debate around whether Hough Ear Institute needs to or actually should be conducting this study before instigating phase two trials is a completely different issue however.

I actually agree with this comment. If synapses truly have a significant connection with the cause of tinnitus, then those companies currently organizing clinical trials like Otonomy are going to be well ahead of the game if their treatment relieves tinnitus.

 

That’s correct, and that’s why I’m mentioning Oblato. They’re running the trial. Why aren’t they calling the shots and changing parameters if need be? If the drug is safe and sitting on the shelf there’s only one way to find out if it works.

I also don’t understand the insurance coverage business, I don’t care if it costs a million dollars a pill. If a billionaire in America bought a working pill, the US will eventually figure a way to get it to people and it will expand from there. The VA hands 5 grand hearing aids out like candy, thankfully. We’re talking about worrying about the price of the car before we even know if it drives. What’s it worth in its current non-trialed state?

 

This has been discussed before but basically something seems fishy with what Hough Ear Institute is doing with the pill. It's pretty clear that they seem to be the ones directing what happens with the pill and not Oblato. One thing we know is Hough Ear Institute have not been transparent when it comes to explaining what is happening with the pill and why they need to do the proof of concept study. Seems that at least they have sped stuff up by starting the study now when prior to this they said it wouldn’t be done until the study was funded entirely.

Essentially I reckon that the trials will start a lot sooner than they previously claimed, however Hough Ear Institute really need to be a lot more transparent. It explains why they struggled to gain the required funding for the study.