This editorial briefly highlights the progress made in discovering a compound named ORC-13661, which shows the potential to alter the response of hair cells to ototoxic medication. In the late 1980s, inner hair cells that were lost secondary to noise exposure or ototoxic agents were discovered in some birds to be able to regenerate. While we are still far from developing a drug to stimulate regeneration of human hair cells, drugs in the prevention of hearing loss may be close within our reach.
So far, laboratory testing using lateral line hair cells from larval zebrafish as a screening platform model has enabled the exciting discovery of this new compound, which appears to incur complete protection of laboratory animals’ hearing after being exposed to high doses of amikacin.
Currently the compound has been patented, and funding has been approved for examination of its safety profile before human testing. It is predicted that the first phase of human testing may start as early as 2018 to assess the safety of the drug in humans and to establish appropriate treatment doses. This is a very exciting prospect for the future of prevention of hearing loss.
