Inner Ear Hair Cell Regeneration — Maybe We Can Know More

I just can't believe if they start human trials soon... it's like we have spoken about hair cell regeneration so long that it has started to sound some kind of fairytale like unicorns

 

Hi,
I read in a investment magazine.
“We are initiating coverage of GenVec with a BUY rating and a target price of $9. The company’s lead program for hearing loss is partnered with Novartis (NVS; Not Rated) and is slated to enter clinical trials in 1H14

As I understand, it means, first half of 2014?

Hmmmm, very interesting, and if they get their results, they will get 240 Mio Dollars from Novartis.....

 

Well Phase I is already human trials isnt it?

 

yes, I think so....would be awesome if there would be some improvement throught this treatment...
I mean, this company did some research on this project since 2005. So after 10 years pre clinical testing, there might be something that really work. I don't think they can restore all hearing.
Anyway, it's very rocket science to develop something like that.

 

Seems like there hauling ass and gettin on with it cause of the 1 billion dollar disability a year.. If there smart there gonna want to get on with research otherwise the united states and other countries are gonna climb more into debt..

 

Actually, I was reading that a lot of billionaires are finally investing in stem cell research (Google for example). Why...this is funny...to prevent age related diseases. These billionaires want to live long healthy lives too and the science just is not there. For most parts of the body. eyes, ears, cancerous organs ...pretty much all doctors can do is sit on their hands and watch, measure, and collect fees on your suffering body.

Stem cell research is making progress many other avenues. So these are exciting times...and I for one, don't believe it is 10 or 20 years away...hogwash!

 

I showed the GenVec presentation to a inner ear researcher and he thinks, that's a good sign if they
going for human trial. He just don't know, how they exactly will do it because nobody knows exactly about
their technology.

Concerning his work, he is absolutely excited about the advances. They now know, that the
it's possible to regenerate hair cells in the adult mammalian cochlea, and this seems to be
new and very important.

So let's hope... It motivates me with my damaged noisy hearing.

Greets tomytl

 

They are probably very protective or their IP right now. It takes years to get a patent, and even then, another company can take the idea and modify it a bit to get around it. This is a big market. Right now, eyes and ears are just fixed with prosthetic devices (if they can be fixed at all). The prosthetic market is huge (and they work like crap). Nothing can do better than Mother Nature. Cochlea implant..no way. If my hearing continues on this trajectory...that might be the scary truth. But now, I know we are very close. This is a big, big market and they know it.

 

So i just watched the presentstion.. Does this mean that this company is moving even quicker then say the hearing health foundation? And if so is it a different approach at regenerating the hair cells? And also even though tinnitus was on one of the slides he didnt really mention anything about it.. I really hope regrowing haircells cure it but i guess theres no way to tell until they do the phase 1 which there hoping for some efficancy.

 

Hi Grace,
this company aquired the technic to regenerate hair cells about 9 years ago from university of michigan.
It's called gene therapy. It's explained here:
https://hearinglosscure.stanford.edu/research/

So nobody really knows if they have ( I guess so) developed some more on this technology.
What already seem to work is their gene delivery, the have about 20 years experience in this.

So let's hope that it's not just hot air.

Greets tomytl

 

Oh ok got it, thank you! In your personal opinnion could this help with T in the future?

 

Im not familiar with GenVec' work but I know some Estonian scientist have been very successful at gene therapy so maybe their work will contribute as well Sort of a random comment but sometimes these things are interdisciplinary as well.

 

Hi,
in my personal opinion I can imagine that it also helps tinnitus... but I am also sure, it needs a lot optimisation to
regain a good hearing... at least, it's more hope than knowledge in my case....
But if you have hearing loss and tinnitus, it might help ...

All the best
tomytl

 

No need to look at them...they'll be implanted in our brains. lol.

 

Do you have to register for the webcast or is there a way to watch it without registering?

 

Hi NeoM,
you can just type in something, there is no confirmation or something.

 

GENVEC Presentation as PDF
http://phx.corporate-ir.net/External.File?item=UGFyZW50SUQ9MjI0NTE0fENoaWxkSUQ9LTF8VHlwZT0z&t=1

 

When will they start the trial? looks so promising!

 

Hi, I read somewhere, that have plans to start within the half of this year.
But I really don't not for sure.

 

Amazing how well it worked on higher frequency restoration(where the usual damage is more profound). Surely in the best case scenario, they will be on the market much earlier than stem cells, im guessing. I wonder, are genetherapy in generally cheaper as well? ...such a happy read, ill give my dog a kiss!

 

From what I heard on that webcast, they'll probably want to start it as soon as possible to get their milestone payments. Lol

To qualify I'm sure you would have to be fairly close to the place administering the trial.. and you have to be severely to profoundly deaf (people who would otherwise qualify for a cochlear implant.)

 

Hello all. I just got back from an audiologist at a Tinnitus center. She gave me several tests including an inner ear hair cell test, and said that it showed the hair cells were damaged in both ears. I did not know that a test like this even existed. I know that hearing can be tested at high frequency, which she gave me. But this was a separate test. Anyone else have experience with this test or is it just bs?

 

What was it like? Is your hearing fine according to the audiogram?

 

hi patty I too also had this test done im pretty sure it was developed at UCL in london they play like this weird electrical noise through the headphones which stimulates your haircells and then a computer picks up their electrical response its pretty cool

 

I have hearing loss in a high frequency. She explained that the high frequency hearing loss caused the tinninus. She said that my tinninus frequency is about 8,000. Also, she said I showed some minimal hearing loss in the 3,000 range, but the big drop off was in the 10-12500 hearing range.

Now the inner hair cell test was outside the soundproof booth where you get the hearing test. I put in earphones that were connected to a computer. I will quote the audiologist, "you can talk to the hair cells, and they don't talk back to you it shows a loss of hair cells." She showed me a graph that had bars on it which showed the deficiency in hair cells.

She was extremely knowledgeable, and showed me a lot of different devices for sound therapy including Neuromonics, Soundcure, a hearing aid (she could put sound therapy in them, and a sound masker/hearing aid (she said that a well known T doctor prescribed this masker for his patients). I am skeptical with these devices cause she started saying well this one has an 80 to 90% success rate with her T patients, this one has 90% etc. Also when I asked about insurance coverage all of I sudden the hearing aids had a higher success rate. ( My insurance will cover them). So is she just trying to sell my something? When I mentioned TRT, she said she was trained with a famous T doctor and his wife (really?), and that she does a combination of TRT and CBT.

Now with hypercusis... She said I have severe hypercusis which I don't think I have. As she explained when she generated a sound in my ear that was about 20 db louder than her voice talking to me (about 80 db) I said that the sound was uncomfortable. IDK I just left there more frustrated and confused. And my T is louder cause this stressed me out.

 

Yes, it is a simple test. Its even used on newborns to test if they can hear since you cant ask them. My hairs in one ear are there and work , but they do not respond correctly . If the hairs are just dead they wont respond at all. Chances are they used on of these:
http://www.maico-diagnostics.com/ep...Documentation/MaicoEroScanClassicBrochure.pdf

 

I also want one done No one suggested it to be. It would be a lot more informative than those stupid audiograms..

 

Patty ,if you have High freq hearing loss then I am certain hearing aids will knock out Tinnitus while they are in buy around 70%

Without mine I would go nuts and i can hear well enough without aids. I have High freq sleight to moderate loss.
The thing with mine they are on the NHS in uk so free they have a volume control.So at night i turn the volume up to max and its weird but it makes the T about 90% less so at last I can sleep without masking of any knid.

 

I am in the US and almost audiologist uses them. I don't know about other counties. A audiogram is something different.

 

You have hypercusis. Just wondering how are you with opening mail or with a plastic bag?

Also did you see the report on 20/20? http://abcnews.go.com/2020/video/everyday-noises-pain-wife-husband-living-ny-22421602