The management of hearing loss may radically change over the next decade as a wide range of novel therapeutics reach the clinical domain, UCLH researchers have highlighted.
Researchers carried out a review of biotech and pharmaceutical companies active in the hearing field and found that 43 were developing therapies for inner ear and central hearing disorders, including drug, cell and gene-based therapies.
The study, published in Otology & Neurotology, mapped what kind of therapeutics are being developed and how near they were to clinical testing and use. With no single cure for hearing, tinnitus or balance impairments, study authors predict clinicians will have a key role in helping patients to choose which therapy best suits their hearing loss and will need to develop their knowledge of therapies and their mechanisms of action.
The study found that the majority of companies – 72% – are developing drug-based therapeutics and 16% are developing gene therapies. Many therapeutics under development target otoprotection - that is the prevention of hearing loss caused by exposure to noise or by certain chemotherapy drugs and antibiotics. Regenerative approaches are at an earlier stage of development with most programmes still at preclinical stages.
Lead author Professor Anne Schilder, who leads the BRC’s Deafness and Hearing Problems theme, said: “Our study shows that we can expect a range of trials of novel hearing therapeutics opening in the next few years. Our BRC Hearing theme is working with the companies and the NIHR Clinical Research Network to open these trials in the UK so that NHS patients can take part. Because the development of novel hearing therapeutics is progressing so fast, we will update the information in the study every 6 months and make it available through the website of the charity Action on Hearing Loss.”
