Neurophysiologists at the University of Connecticut (UConn) have discovered a new drug that may prevent tinnitus and treat epilepsy by selectively affecting potassium channels in the brain. According to an article in the June 10, 2015 edition of The Journal of Neuroscience, Anastasios V. Tzingounis, PhD, and colleagues say that both tinnitus and epilepsy are caused by overly excitable cells that flood the brain with an overload of signals that can lead to seizures (epilepsy) or phantom ringing in the ears (tinnitus).
The authors report that roughly 65 million people worldwide are affected by epilepsy. While exact statistics on tinnitus are not easy to determine, the American Tinnutus Association estimates that two million people in the US suffer from disabling tinnitus.
According to Tzingounis and co-authors, the existing drugs available to treat epilepsy don’t always work and can have serious side effects. One of the more effective drugs, retigabine, helps open KCNQ potassium channels, which serve as the “brakes” that shut down the signaling of overly excited nerves. Retigabine, however, has terrible side effects and is usually only given to adults who don’t get relief from other epilepsy drugs. The side effects of retigabine include sleepiness, dizziness, problems with hearing and urination, and a disturbing tendency to turn patients’ skin and eyes blue.
In 2013, Tzingounis began collaborating with Thanos Tzounopoulos, PhD, a tinnitus expert at the University of Pittsburgh, to create a new drug candidate. The new drug, SF0034, was chemically identical to retigabine, but included an extra fluorine atom. Originally developed by SciFluor, the company wanted to know whether the compound had promise for treating epilepsy and tinnitus.
Tzingounis and Tzounopoulos thought the drug had the potential to be much better than retigabine in treating both conditions. They first had to determine if SF0034 worked on KCNQ potassium channels the same way retigabine does, and if so, if it would be better or worse.
The co-authors explain in their article that KCNQ potassium channels are found in the initial segment of axons, long nerve fibers that reach out and almost touch other cells. The gap between the axon and the other cell is called a synapse. When the cell wants to signal to the axon, it floods the synapse with sodium ions to create an electrical potential. When that electrical potential goes on too long, or gets overactive, the KCNQ potassium channel kicks in. The result is that it opens, potassium ions flood out, and the sodium-induced electrical potential shuts down.
In some types of epilepsy, the KCNQ potassium channels have trouble opening and shutting down runaway electrical potentials in the nerve synapse. Retigabine helps them open. According to the authors, there are five different kinds of KCNQ potassium channels in the body, but only two are important in epilepsy and tinnitus: KCNQ2 and KCNQ3. The problem with retigabine is that it acts on other KCNQ potassium channels as well. That’s why it has so many unwanted side effects.
When testing SF0034 in neurons, the researchers found that it was more selective than retigabine. It appeared to open only KCNQ2 and KCNQ3 potassium channels, and to not affect the KCNQ 4 or 5 potassium channels. The research showed that SF0034 was more effective than retigabine at preventing seizures in animals, and it was also less toxic.
The results are promising, and SciFluor plans to start FDA trials with SF0034 to test its safety and efficacy in people. Treating epilepsy is the primary goal, but treating or preventing tinnitus is a secondary goal.
Source: UConn; Medical News Today
Photo credits: University of Connecticut; University of Pittsburgh; © Skypixel | Dreamstime.com
what is the status of this drug aPoor helping tinnitus ?
what is the status of this drug as far as helping quiet the loud sounds?
I have had moderate to severe tinnitus for almost 40 years after a very bad motorcycle accident in which i lost all my hearing. I had a cochlear implant in one ear down back in 1989. It didn’t stop the tinnitus of course and well i kind of struggle with the hearing too cause of the crazy loud tinnitus sounds i have. Its maddening at times and i think with the scientists and all the research going on why hasn’t a cure been found yet? Covid vaccine was developed so fast. Why hasn’t a tinnitus cure been found after all these years? It’s insane.
Have my tinnitus for 3 years now and is cyclical too: with a frequence of 7 – 10 days. Did not found the cause and a remedy yet.
Hello my fellow sufferers of tinnitus here. Also looking for answers. Is there any update on this medication being ready for human use?
Did this medicine ever get to trial. I’m suffering 24/7 it’s tge only thing I think about it’s taken over my life. HELP
Read my post below! 40 years of hell……with tinnitus/balance problems/ heavy head.
I’ve had tinnitus for 10 years. Had to stop taking vitamins and minerals, they cause my tinnitus to get worse, Even drinking a boost makes the tinnitus worse. I can’t take anti depressants, acid blockers, and now I can’t take the blood thinners that my cardiologist wants me to take because they make my tinnitus unbearable.
I’m now 72 years old and cannot take anything that can extend my life. A life ending stroke is going to take my life without the blood thinners. So because of my unbearable tinnitus it is going to be taking 10 years off my life.
Please I beg of you please find a cure as soon as humanly possible. Thanks ! Ron Wake
Did this medicine ever get to trial. I’m suffering 24/7 it’s tge only thing I think about it’s taken over my life. HELP
I am a 47 year old HS Teacher…recieved the curse of “T” from sound trauma 4 months ago….I live outside of Pittsburgh. Went to UPMC and they told me to try TRT. I want a CURE…dont want to mask it. PLEASE contact me for trials. Desperate…cant teach…cant live like this. Thanos Tzounopoulos, please contact me for trials…PLEASE.
Went to doctor and they irragated my ears for wax removal and now they’re ringing was wanting to try the sf0034
What has happened in the past 2 years with the Trials?
Since i had my gallbladder removed in 2014 and was administered heavy antibiotics which caused severe earring and like other people with this condition that never stops, i am looking for some relief if not a cure.
Andy
How it is possible to cure tinnitus with a pill??If it is possible you gonna win the Noble Prize.You will save us
Please help. Tinnitus is crippling my father and now Im getting it.
Please help me with ringing in my ears. I think of killing myself. I am so miserable.
I am from India and how can i get details from SciFluor Life Sciences, LLC. Please chris if you have any medication for tinnitus and for menier’s tell me.
Hello… Is there a cure for tinnitus now?
I have had an onset of tinnitus w/ ringing and deafness for over 6 years, I am also deaf in my left ear. NO apparent cause, a life time of over stimulation, though hi blood pressure, and movement like driving, concentrating and just feeling normal is difficult on any day, I also have meniers. TRileptal, 600-1800, divided doses is a wonder drug on quite tinnitus. A Psyc prescribed it and it woks, give up on lipoflavanoid. I was nearly suicidal du
Help this is killing me
I HAVE HAD TINNITUS IN BOTH EARS 24/7 FOR TWENTY YEARS. PLEASE HELP ME AND EVERYONE ELSE WITH THIS HORRIBLE AFFLICTION. I WORKED IN THE OFFICE OF A FACTORY, JUST A DOOR BETWEEN ME AND THE MACHINERY, FOR TEN YEARS. I WAS CONCERNED ABOUT MY HEARING AND CONTACTED THE COUNCIL. AN OFFICIAL CAME WITH A METER AND SAID THE SOUND LEVELS WERE ACCEPTABLE!
A cure for tinnitus would be great. I have had it constantly for a very long time and it has gotten worse
Since 2015 in october i have Tinitus. Sometimes it is disapeared for Some days. I live in Holland and the is no cure in says the doctor. Is there a cure of is their a medication in the USA.
Greeting Jenny
I have tinnitus looking for a cure
Hello I was just reading the information on your web sight . I have had severe tinnitus in my right ear for nearly 2,years .. have had a cochlear implant as a last resort however I had to have it removed due to complications. I am wondering how close your company or even any other companies are getting to finding a miracle drug for tinnitus ? Many thanks Jenny
I am 62 yes female suffering with severe pulating tinnitus of left ear since one year. Under went tympanoplasty after asom and perforation.now the earis dry but small perforation persists.please help me out of this severe tinnitus and hearing loss.
I have had tinnitus for over 30 yrs. At first (around age 17) it was just a little whistling/hissing noise which i got when i was thrown off a motorbike as a pillion rider.I lived with it as it wasn’t that bad then but in 1993 i had a stress breakdown and instantly my tinnitus just deafened me.Now my head and ears are just a mass of sound. Mine is a full volume BOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO…. HISSSSSSSSSS… and a sound i can only describe as a room full off people running their fingers around crystal wine glasses that never finishes.I am also tormented by a condition that gives me really big/bad electrical shocks to my brain(i believe they call it brain zaps)which i take a drug called Pregabalin.I’m currently on max dose of 150mg x4 per day, this gives me some rest from it but doesn’t kill altogether.
The one thing i know nothing about is, SILENCE!
I’m here in the uk and our government is no different with sqandering money on ridiculous or un-needed projects or just filling their own pockets, rather than helping the people who pay them.
To all of you who are tormented by tinnitus, i can only repeat, ROLL ON A CURE.
All the best folks!
DJ UK.