Prof. Thanos Tzounopoulos Receives $2 Million Grant

Totally agree. Mother nature never intended for our primate ears to deal with anything much more than what one would hear in a forest or coastline. In cases when stuff was loud, IE: thunder, falling trees, earthquakes, volcanoes, etc... it meant danger and flee...

I found Apple's hearing study particularly revealing, when it comes to the % of people that exceed daily/weekly exposure to noise on a regular basis. It just shows how much our sensors are no match for the industrialized world.

Apple Hearing Study shares new insights on hearing health

I have also been hardcore hermiting lately. Between COVID-19 and having a baby, I'm pretty much stuck at home nearly most days. I have come to not mind it so much. My house is cleaner than it has ever been, and my gardens look awesome.

 

You have a great reason to be at home. I loved staying at home with my little guy. It was the most fun I've ever had and the most exhausted I've ever been!

I haven't seen the study by Apple. I'll check it out. I worry about the future hearing of children and young people with the amount of noise they are exposed to. They even use headphones on a daily basis at school. Ugh.

 

What is the latest news about the drug that Thanos Tzounopoulos is developing?

 

Not much news unfortunately.

Although his lab is hiring a new technician. Anyone with a neuroscience BSc fancy trying to smash tinnitus?

Talent Center: Careers at Pitt — Research Technician

 

Salary is low, no wonder:

• Assignment Category: Full-time regular
• Job Classification: Staff.Research.II Non-Exempt
• Campus: Pittsburgh
• Minimum Education Level Required: Baccalaureate
• Minimum Experience Level Required: Less than 1 year experience
• Work Schedule: Monday - Friday, 8:30 a.m. - 5:00 p.m.
• Hiring Range: $20,904.00 - $32,760.00

 

That was an interesting read on Apple's hearing study. I found the link to their Noise app for Apple Watch where it, among other things, says:

Things you should know

•Sound levels are measured in A-weighted decibels.
Long-term exposure to sounds below 80 decibels should not affect your hearing. Sounds measured at this level appear as OK in the app.

Source:
Use the Noise app on your Apple Watch

I think that is misleading to conclude since there seems to be many (including me) who damaged their hearing via long term listening to sound and music at a much lower level (see my post here).

I think we need to stop saying that it's only loud noise and music over 80 decibels that can cause damage since it seems clear what the ear can handle depends on many factor, such as how fatigued it is, how sensitive the individual is and the frequencies of the sound/music.

At least that is my current view, not backed by any scientific studies. But how many studies are there taking into account the things about the ear I mentioned above?

 

Is that even minimum wage?

 

Maybe further information about Tzounopoulos research / drug description:

The Neuroscience and the Treatment of Tinnitus

"We place a special emphasis on mechanism-driven drug development informed by basic research findings.1 Several compounds are under clinical or preclinical investigation for the treatment of tinnitus, including KCNQ potassium channel openers that aim to reduce hyperexcitability in the auditory brainstem, a Group II mGluR agonist to reduce hyperexcitability in the inferior colliculus, NMDAR channel antagonists to reduce excitotoxicity in the cochlea after noise exposure, a glutathione peroxidase (GPx) inhibitor, and a T-type calcium channel blocker to reduce inflammation after noise exposure and in subsequent tinnitus."

 

Xenon Pharmaceuticals is way ahead of Prof. Tzounopoulos and has the backing of a lot of industry dollars for a drug that is the only of its kind, meant for treating certain infant epilepsy but anyone would pony up to keep their child alive.

It targeting the Kv 7.1/2 channels is a happy accident.

Same target as Retigabine (Trobalt) which seemed to help and even cure some people if we are to believe @Danny Boy (don't know why he'd make that up)

 

I would like to know what comes out of this. Hopefully something new.

 

Interesting, I was not aware Thanos is interested in neuromodulation as well.

 

I was all set to record this talk but then got carried away at work and forgot to start it on time. Caught the last 5 minutes. That’s it.

 

I watched it and would summarize as follows:

1. The first half was like tinnitus 101. Discussion of causes, TRT, CBT, etc.

2. Then the professor discussed his research. I would characterize what he said as follows - he has had issues with his RL-81 in terms of what I think he called toxicity. He seems confident that he is in the process of resolving the issues. He seems upbeat about the long term prospects/potential for the drug. The bad news is that the issues have pushed everything further down the road in terms of trials. I asked when he thought he would get to a clinical trial, and he said a year or so, but was not certain or confident of that timeframe...

 

The toxicity issue is unfortunate. I listened to his Tinnitus Talk Podcast interview a few weeks back from May 2020 and he said he hoped to begin trials in a year or so. Looks like we could be looking at late 2022 or more likely 2023 now for Phase 1 trials. Out of the various scientists I have heard speak on the subject he seems one of the most knowledgeable.

 

Any clue on where would the clinical trial take place? I’ve heard about Australia once.

 

I think that this is somewhat promising. I thought that there could be a longer delay before it is in the trial phase. It is just promising that he is looking to try and not only get the medicine to a safe standard but is also trying to make a positive difference too though.

 

This article about Prof. Thanos Tzounopoulos was posted November 9. I don't think there's anything in it we didn't know already though.

A Pitt scientist is striving to quiet the ringing in veterans' ears

 

Thanks for sharing this! I'll take all the publicity we can get.

 

I hope a pill from Prof. Tzounopoulos in combination with the brain being zapped with Dr. Shore's apparatus will kill tinnitus once and for all!

 

I hope to be alive when that happens.

 

I believe it is likely that we will see an effective treatment if not a full on cure within our lifetimes.

 

"Tzounopoulos is confident that the days of tinnitus being a disease without a treatment are numbered"

I wonder how many days left. :S

 

In the Tinnitus Talk Podcast interview of nearly two years ago Prof. Tzounopoulos was confident pre-clinical would be finished within 1 to 2 years. We are close to that timeline's end now and still no news.

Quite disappointing really.

XEN-1101 seems very light on the side effect side even though it isn't a tinnitus specific treatment.

This research looks like it could be well past its sell by date if XEN-1101 shows off label efficacy like it theoretically should.

 

It kills me, he has such conviction (as do I) but there's so little funding...

 

He has had plenty of funding to get to Phase 1, and beyond that will take an external partner. Every delay eats into that funding, wages, overheads, etc.

Really should be hearing something soon if this is going to be a runner. By 2028-2030 better non-drug treatments will inevitably be available.

When interviewed, Hazel ask him regarding Fast Track application for FDA and he had never heard of it. Seems like another ‘academic’ stuck in the mud unfortunately. Hope I’m wrong.

 

This is the reason why there is a delay:

And that's probably not so unexpected knowing the side effects of Trobalt. I wouldn't want to risk severe visual snow, but that's everybody's choice. So he seems just being serious in making a safe drug. I wouldn't call him off. That's the same as what was said a year or so ago: Why do we need Otonomy? We have FX-322.

 

That`s no joke, but there are a lot of drugs with nasty side effects on the market. It just seems like we are always 2 or 3 years away from a treatment.

 

With Trobalt 30 percent of people had a change in eye pigment. In XEN-1101 there has been no sign of eye changes so far of at least in 70 people. Hopefully the fact the Potassium channel for the eyes is not touched can solve the most serious symptoms.

FX-322 I can see unfortunately not helping a large percent of people because it does not go deep enough in the cochlea (I think it was said reach 12 kHz?) meaning if you have low-mid frequency tinnitus it probably won't help you.

 

*Laughs in corporatist capitalism*

 

Hi @Padraigh Griffin, just curious what makes you think we will have viable non-drug treatments by 2028-2030?

While these timelines are quite depressing for me as they always seem like the old “a cure is 5-10 years down the road” line, I really hope that’s the case or even sooner. In reading around the forum, it seems there’s no viable potential treatments even in actual progress aside from Shore’s. Seems they are all stalled for one reason or another.

Curious about your insights. And here’s to hoping Susan can bring us relief even sooner.