An update: emerging drugs for tinnitus

ABSTRACT

Introduction: During the last decade, a number of candidate drugs for the treatment of tinnitus have emerged with the hope of alleviating the burden of millions of sufferers with a persisting ringing in their ears. Knowledge of the pathophysiologic mechanisms has progressed remarkably in the recent years, which has led to the identification of potential new drug targets for the treatment of tinnitus. However, pharmacologic interventions are still limited.

Areas covered: In this editorial results from recent Phase 3 and Phase 2a trials investigating the NMDA receptor antagonist AM-101 from Auris Medical, the AMPA receptor antagonist BGG492 from Novartis and the Kv3 modulator AUT00063 from Autifony Therapeutics will be discussed. In this context, we will reevaluate the translational development approach from animal models to clinical trials and seize this opportunity to debate and improve future R&D in tinnitus pipeline.

Expert opinion: In spite of huge advances in pathophysiologic knowledge and research methodology in the last decades, pharmaceutical research in tinnitus still represents a high-risk field. Important research directions include the identification of potential therapeutic targets and the development of objective outcome measurements to facilitate translational research.

KEYWORDS:

• Tinnitus
• hearing
• pharmacotherapy
• auditory system
• treatment
• hidden hearing loss
• meta-analysis
• systematic review

Declaration of interest

C.R.Cederroth has received research funding from Svenska Läkaresällskapet, Tysta Skolan, Hörselforskningsfonden, Karolinska Institutet, the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 722046 [103] and Decibel Therapeutics, Inc. They have also received research funding from Decibel Therapeutics, Inc. J Dyhrfjeld-Johnsen is employee at Sensorion Pharma. B Langguth received research funding from the Tinintus Research Initiative and the European Union’s Horizon 2020 research and innovation programme under the Marie Skłodowska-Curie grant agreement No 722046 [103]. B Langguth has also received honoraria for speaking and consultancy from Advanced Neuro Modulation, Astellas, Astra Zeneca, Autifony, Decibel Therapeutics, Desyncra, Gerson Lehrman Group, McKinsey, Lundbeck, Merz, Magventure, Novartis, Neuromod Devices, Pfizer and Servier; research funding from Astra Zeneca, Cerbomed, Deymed, Magventure, Neuromod Devices, Sivantos, Otonomy, the European Union, the German Ministry for Research, the Tinnitus Research Initiative; travel and accommodation payments from the European Union (COST), Lilly, Servier and Pfizer and holds patents for the use of neuronavigation for transcranial magnetic stimulation for tinnitus treatment and for cyclobenzaprine for the treatment of tinnitus. The authors have no other relevant affiliations or financial involvement with any organization or entity with a financial interest in or financial conflict with the subject matter or materials discussed in the manuscript apart from those disclosed

Reviewer Disclosures

A reviewer on this manuscript has disclosed that they have previously acted as a scientific consultant to Autifony, and to Auris Medical, who have developed two of the compounds discussed, although, no current relationships exist. Other peer reviewers on this manuscript have no relevant financial or other relationships to disclose

Author contributions

C.R. Cederroth1 and B. Langguth performed literature search, C.R. Cederroth1, J. Dyhrfjeld-Johnsen and B. Langguth contributed to writing. B. Langguth was responsible for the decision to submit the final manuscript and approved the final report.

Additional information

Funding

This paper was not funded.