Hmmmm! Lets see if shooting this substance into your eardrum will help relieve the sound that you are experiencing. Oh, by the way this will probably cost in the $$Thousands$$ just like everything else.

Pat

The clinical trail is now recruiting240 people in Germany. Anyone live in Germany?

In Germany, are Professors the same as Drs? It says Professors are conducting the study.

That 14-year-old boy who joined this DS group recently (KingLars1?) with terrible T that he just got lives in Norway, but I suppose that is just a bit to far and he is just a bit too young for the study. : / I noticed you have to have had T for 3 months or less...!

I didn't realize they were looking for 3 months or less. Unfortunately it seems that the longer you've had T the less effective the AM101 drug may be. It has something to do with neuroplasticity and the brain building new neural pathways. At least that is what they discovered in animals. They don't know how it will work in the human brain.

That's the major drawback for those of us having this condition for a much longer time.

They will have to make it affordable in the market place to some degree - the medicine is for a target audience - mostly middle aged to older patients with tinnitus - if they price it too high - it will stagnate on the market - and they won't get a large pool of people for feedback on its efficacy. So don't despair.

When these pharmaceutical giants do their testing, they act like lawyers choosing a jury pool - they want the ones most likely to return a verdict in their favor -- so when they prepare their report- they snag a higher success rate.

Whether those of us with tinnitus for a longer period to time will benefit remains to be seen.

If their drug targets the signal generated by the damaged cells and neutralizes them from completing their journey to the auditory cortex of the brain to be perceived - it seems it would work the same on those of us with tinnitus for years.

I read several articles that this and another drug in Stage iv here in the states are designed to do just that. target the errant cell signals and impede their ability to transmit to the brain.

I am hoping with the rest of you - perhaps we will see medical intervention - as they try and try again.

They should have a huge market ahead of themselves - as more and more young people are lining up at the doors of ENT's with our problems- clubbing, rock concerts, mosh pits, cell phones and ipods have caught up with them.

They designed a wick delivery system that is supposed to prevent needle pricks from invading the ear drum and other inner parts - to minimize scarring and potential damage.

there are some articles on the next about the wick and it is somewhat simple in design and has been successful in allowing medicine to enter the inner ear through using drops from a dropper - thereby minimizing risk inherent to using needles on the ear drum itself.

The Phase II results look good. No side effects and reduced tinnitus volume. All test subjects had tinnitus for less than 3 months.

http://www.aurismedical.com/p/news/news_27.php?lg=en

I asked my husband about the three month window - apparently, just before going to market - they try to choose the best test group pool they can - to shore up a high success rate on the condition of tinnitus.

It is possible that the mechanisms in the treatment would be helpful to us long term sufferers.

They have the wick now - that they surgically place in the inner ear - I wonder why the Germans didn't mention or try it - they did it totally by transtympanic injections - that is scary - you really want an ENT with a really steady hand - the inner mechanisms of the ear are so easily damamged - it's not even funny.

Hoping for the best -in 2011 - get some relief - God bless

Well I'm sure there wont be any shortage of people who want to try it when it comes to market.

Yes, we can all meet each other in that line!

Well first off, without the wick delivery this would never get off the ground. Just the thought of those shots completely creeps me out...

And i agree, all these pharmaceutical drug studies are going to pick the most likely candidates for success, so their '3 month' or '1 year' can still mean good news for the rest of us if it works at all.

But I'm interested in the science. Mandie, your explanation is new to me, that there are errant signals coming from the ear.
My understanding has been that with hearing damage, those dead hairs are no longer sending signals, and that in the absence of input in whatever frequency(ies) the damage is in, the auditory cortex gets reprogrammed to produce the tones itself. So, if you cut the auditory nerve, you still hear the T, nothing more.
Something like that anyways.
So I'm interested in this other concept. Wouldn't cutting the auditory nerve then disconnect these errant signals?

Love to see some links to those articles if you've still got them.
Best to all
Bobby

Well, I guess what I just said is the concept behind Neuromonics (hard to say that's working out so well).
Then there's that other article I found where they did the opposite of Neuromonics - participants listened to music notched in their T frequencies, and that supposedly worked.

So I guess I'm thoroughly confused about the science, which brings me to another thought -
With so many varying causes or sources of T, it seems like a long shot that one solution would fit all.
Like, I've got hearing damage, lot's of loud live music over the years. But I've also got TMJ as a component of my T.

Could it be that all these myriad causes still result in the same complex of conditions that end up as T? I'm not sure, but sure hope so as that's the only place to hang any hope of a future medical solution (in which i'm staying optimistic) working for all of us.

Here's to research in 2011.

one audio told me that when the cilia hair cells are damaged - they produce random or erratic electrical signals and the brain interprets it as tinnitus - or ringing - but you're explanation sounds just as good to me as any other -

Tinnitus is universally called a brain problem by neurologists - but called an ear problem by ENT's.

it's almost like different denominations in the same religion of Christianity.

But in the end - if any drug or intratympanic injection subdues or eliminates the process that produces tinnitus without damaging what hearing we have left - well, we're going to get in line.

The intratympanic injection looks more promising because the drug delivery system goes directly into the hearing mechanisms without being metabolized by the body first -

But most people just wince at the thought some doc is going to be doing an injection on them once a week, then once a month and then a few times a year - yeah, most of us don't really want to do it - but I guess we would.

The wick delivery system was designed to keep people from a scarred ear drum from messed up injection procedures.

I would definitely beg for that -

If my ear drum gets scarred then what?

Recruiting for clinical trials in Kansas City, Kansas

Eligibility

Ages Eligible for Study: 18 Years to 65 Years
Genders Eligible for Study: Both
Accepts Healthy Volunteers: No

Criteria

Inclusion Criteria:
Tinnitus following acute acoustic trauma, idiopathic sudden sensorineural hearing loss, acute otitis media, middle ear surgery or inner ear barotrauma; with onset less than three months ago.

Exclusion Criteria:
Tinnitus that is not completely maskable
Fluctuating tinnitus
Intermittent tinnitus
Meniere's Disease
Ongoing acute or chronic otitis media or otitis externa.

http://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT01270282?term=tinnitus&recr=Open&cntry1=NA:US&rank=13