Search launched for hearing loss drugs

Monday April 25th, 2016

A British charity is to finance a major international search to find the first drugs for hearing loss, it was announced today.

Action on Hearing Loss is to invest £300,000 in the project, it was announced at the BioTrinity 2016 conference.

It will involve the University of South Florida, Tampa, USA, and Pragma Therapeutics, a French company.

The research centres on the mGlu7 receptor which helps transfer signals from the ear to the brain. Researchers believe they can develop small molecule drugs to act on this receptor, thought to be linked to age-related hearing loss.

Charity head of biomedical research Dr Ralph Holme said: "There is an urgent need for effective treatments to prevent and treat hearing loss - a condition that affects as many as one in six people in the UK and all too often isolates people from friends and family.

"In bringing together the drug discovery expertise of Pragma Therapeutics and the hearing research expertise of the Global Center for Hearing and Speech Research, our new project aims to bring the development of urgently needed treatments a step closer for people who choose to want them."

Tags: Europe | Hearing | North America | UK News

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