"SAN DIEGO, California, March 3, 2003 -- American BioHealth Group LLC (ABG), a privately held San Diego-based company developing hearing loss prevention and treatment technology licensed exclusively from the U.S. Navy, announced today that positive pre-clinical data on that technology were presented in a poster at the Association for Research in Otolaryngology...
... administration of the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) decreased acute noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) due to loud impulse noise exposure. This new data extends previous research indicating that NAC is protective against loud continuous noise such as jet engine noise.
In the reported study, NAC, given in a basic science model before and after simulated M-16 rifle fire consisting of 150 shots over 75 seconds, reduced permanent hearing loss by over 70%. A similar reduction in damage to the cochlear hair cells was also noted. In other related research presented by the Naval Medical Center group at ARO, data were reported indicating that two key mechanisms of inner ear injury were depletion of inner ear glutathione and damage to mitochondria. Glutathione is a key inner ear antioxidant and NAC replenishes the inner ear glutathione depleted by loud noise..."
http://www.abgpharma.com/news.htm
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I spoke with a gentleman at American BioHealth a couple of weeks ago. In addition to NAC, they are wokring on a number of other compounds that reduce noise-induced hearing loss. Completion of clinical trials and FDA approval will likely prevent their prescription product from reaching market before 2006, but he indicated that they would have something on the market in about 30 days.
I'll try to get further info but he may have been referring to the fact that NAC is currently available. It is "the active ingredient in a formulation known as Mucamist, an oral agent given to counteract liver damage in cases of acetaminophen overdose. NAC is a free radical scavenger and is a precursor to glutathione (GSH). NAC is well-absorbed and subsequently broken down into cysteine, which is taken up into cells and converted to GSH. At therapeutic doses it has few side effects. NAC is a currently FDA-approved compound, has been in clinical use over three decades with safety established through high-dose use over extended periods."
I'm no doc, so check with yours, but it sounds like we may no longer have to accept hearing damage as an inevitable byproduct of our favorite loud activities.
Rex
... administration of the antioxidant N-acetylcysteine (NAC) decreased acute noise-induced hearing loss (NIHL) due to loud impulse noise exposure. This new data extends previous research indicating that NAC is protective against loud continuous noise such as jet engine noise.
In the reported study, NAC, given in a basic science model before and after simulated M-16 rifle fire consisting of 150 shots over 75 seconds, reduced permanent hearing loss by over 70%. A similar reduction in damage to the cochlear hair cells was also noted. In other related research presented by the Naval Medical Center group at ARO, data were reported indicating that two key mechanisms of inner ear injury were depletion of inner ear glutathione and damage to mitochondria. Glutathione is a key inner ear antioxidant and NAC replenishes the inner ear glutathione depleted by loud noise..."
http://www.abgpharma.com/news.htm
******************************
I spoke with a gentleman at American BioHealth a couple of weeks ago. In addition to NAC, they are wokring on a number of other compounds that reduce noise-induced hearing loss. Completion of clinical trials and FDA approval will likely prevent their prescription product from reaching market before 2006, but he indicated that they would have something on the market in about 30 days.
I'll try to get further info but he may have been referring to the fact that NAC is currently available. It is "the active ingredient in a formulation known as Mucamist, an oral agent given to counteract liver damage in cases of acetaminophen overdose. NAC is a free radical scavenger and is a precursor to glutathione (GSH). NAC is well-absorbed and subsequently broken down into cysteine, which is taken up into cells and converted to GSH. At therapeutic doses it has few side effects. NAC is a currently FDA-approved compound, has been in clinical use over three decades with safety established through high-dose use over extended periods."
I'm no doc, so check with yours, but it sounds like we may no longer have to accept hearing damage as an inevitable byproduct of our favorite loud activities.
Rex
