Below is the reply I've just received back from Otogene.
Sounds promising!

Jon

**********************
Tübingen, 18 July 2001

Thank you very much for your interest in OTOGENE AG and its research in hearing loss.

It is true that OTOGENE AG intends to develop a drug for the treatment of sensorineural hearing loss (SNHL), which is caused by the loss of the sensory cells in the inner ear (termed hair cells). SNHL can be caused by ageing, noise or toxic effects. While we have made significant scientific progress in animal models since OTOGENE AG was formed in 1998, we still do not have drug candidates available for testing in humans.

We hope to enter clinical trials in early 2004 and to be on the market by 2008 with a first product that improves hearing. We will update our website www.otogene.de regularly to report on scientific news.

With the kindest regards

Just wanted to let you know that I sent an e-mail to the program, ScienceFriday. Asking if they could possibly do a segment on Hair cell regeneration. After all, every little bit helps or counts. Just as long we're planting the seeds for the future, etc. Right ?

<--- Start of e-mail --->

Subject: Why don't you do a show about....

Hair Cell Regeneration !

What is hair cell regeneration, you may ask ?

Ok, hair cell regeneration is a research where different doctors or scientists were able to observe that the damaged hearing hair cells of birds were regenerated. Thus they are trying to see if they can apply the same thing to humans. That is to try to regenerate the damaged hair cells of those with a hearing loss, to try to enable them to regain their hearing back.

Admittedly some centers or facilities do need more funds in order to speed up their research or progress. Perhaps, it would be helpful for these centers to have more media exposure of the topic on hair cell regeneration. Hoping that an increased awareness of such research could lead to more funds for these centers.

For instance, there is this research center shown below:

http://depts.washington.edu/hearing/initiative.html

So, where could we go from here ? Hope to hear from you soon. I'd appreciate it. Thanks in advance !

<--- End of e-mail --->

** HHIssues **

[This message has been edited by HHIssues (edited 07-23-2001).]

Welcome aboard ! Got this information from a friend that it seems that the following German Venture capital funds said they have funded Otogene's research work. These are the English versions of their web sites

TFG Capital

http://www.tfg.de/en/index2.php3

BMP Capital

http://www.bmp.com

Wellington Partners

http://www.wellington.de/de/portfolio.phtml

Actually, it's the research from the University of Washington that keeps claiming that they need more funds:

http://depts.washington.edu/hearing/initiative.html

** HHIssues **

Here's an interesting article from the House Ear Institute, titled "The Challenge of Hair Cell Regeneration":

http://www.hei.org/research/projects/cmb/haircellchall.htm

In the new September issue of Popular Science magazine on page 39 there is an article on a new treatment for sudden hearing loss Titled "Now Hear This" This is not necessarily related to hair cell regeneration but the delivery system mentioned is new and would probably be applied for other treatments to the inner ear.

would you mind posting the article here? I'm from Denmark and therefore I'm not able buying the magazine.

Research
http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Physiology/Research/Hearing/hearingresearch.html

Expression profiles of auditory hair cells.
http://hg.wustl.edu/lovett/projects/nohr/index.html

Neuroscience Faculty: J.Corwin
http://www.med.virginia.edu/medicine/basic-sci/neurosci/corwin.html

Research Areas
http://www.medoto.unimelb.edu.au/research/

HRC RESEARCH AREAS
http://www.bu.edu/hrc/resareas.html

hearing initiative
http://depts.washington.edu/hearing/initiative.html

Home Page
http://wings.buffalo.edu/faculty/research/chd

Otogene AG
http://www.otogene.com/www/framesets/initial_frames.htm

Dr Corné Kros
http://www.bris.ac.uk/Depts/Physiology/Postgrad/ck.htm

University of Pennsylvania Health System http://www.med.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/sept96/hair.html

Anyone out there know of any others to add to the list ?

My name is Sirisha. I am a mom for a 4 year old boy who has hearing loss in both of his ears. He is doing great with his hearing aids on and making wonderful progress in his school. My dream is to see my little boy hearing normally, just like me.
I am a member of other hearing loss message boards and I got lot of useful information from HHIssues. Thanks to him.
I will be the happiest person in the world, if my sons hearing loss is cured by any of the doctors. I cannot wait to see my son hearing normally.
I read all of your postings about Hair cell regeneration, etc. My support and help will be always with you. Please let me know, if I can do anything on this issue.

That's just what I wanted to share with you.

What's this doctor's name ? Where does he practice ? And does he have a website ? Maybe, I could see if I could look up some information on it throughout the Internet. What do you think ?

Sincerely,
--Dan

His name is K.O. Nielsen and he pratices at the Hospital of Soenderborg, which is placed in Southern Jutland, Denmark. As far as I know he doesn't have a website, but it's surely worth a try. I hope you'll find something.