Search Results for: Institute of Medicine

Frequency Therapeutics Receives $32 Million Funding for Drug to Treat Hearing Loss

Frequency Therapeutics announced the closing of a $32 million Series A financing for what it views as a whole new category of disease-modifying therapeutics, including regrowth of inner-ear hair cells, for a wide range of degenerative conditions. The funding round was led by CoBro Ventures. Additional participating investors included Morningside Ventures, Emigrant Capital Corp, Korean Investment Partnership, Alexandria Real Estate Equities, and other US and international investors.

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Elite 2017 Business Summit Elevates Independents in Era of Disruptive Change

This year’s Summit theme was “Elevate Your Independence,” focusing on how independent hearing care professionals can succeed in an era of disruptive technology, distribution, and what may ultimately be a new regulatory environment. Included in the Summit’s General Session was a historical perspective on the current over-the-counter device proposals, as well as a review of a recent pilot study that supports professionally dispensed hearing aids over OTC.

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Gene Therapy Used to Restore Hearing and Balance in Mice with Usher Syndrome

In a first-of-its-kind study published in the March 1, 2017 edition of Molecular Therapy, researchers from the National Institute on Deafness and Other Communication Disorders (NIDCD) and Johns Hopkins University School of Medicine showed that gene therapy was able to restore balance and hearing in genetically modified mice that mimic Usher syndrome.

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Scientifically Rigorous Study Shows Older Adults Benefit from Hearing Aids; Support for OTC Devices

The first-ever placebo-controlled, double-blind, randomized clinical trial of hearing aid outcomes shows that older adults benefit from hearing aid use, including over-the-counter (OTC) devices. There were no significant differences in outcome between the OTC and audiology best-practice service-delivery approaches for 5 of the 6 outcome measures, but the OTC group fared somewhat worse when it came to satisfaction with their hearing aids. Fewer OTC participants were also likely to purchase their hearing aids after the trial (55% for the OTC group vs 81% for the best practices group, with 36% for the placebo group).

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Study Shows Hair Cell Regrowth with New Drug

A new approach, published in “Cell Reports,” to regenerate inner ear sensory hair cells is said to lay the groundwork for treating chronic noise-induced hearing loss by the company, Frequency Therapeutics, and its co-founders who are drawing on research from Brigham and Women’s Hospital (BWH), Harvard Medical School, Mass Eye and Ear Infirmary, and MIT. The program is expected to progress to into human clinical trials within the next 18 months.

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