Otolaryngologist Kathleen Campbell, a surgery professor and director of audiology research for the School of Medicine, has been awarded three U.S. and five international patents for therapeutic uses of the amino acid, known as D-methionine.

Campbell's research with laboratory animals has found that D-methionine is effective in reducing hearing loss from very loud and long-term noise exposure.

"If clinical trials find it works in humans as well as it does in animals, permanent hearing loss from prolonged loud noises and accidents such as military gunfire and automobile airbag detonation could be prevented for many people around the world," Campbell says.

Her research also has shown the compound to be effective in animals against hearing loss caused by cisplatin, an anticancer drug used in chemotherapy. Around 50 percent of ovarian cancer patients and 30 percent of lung cancer patients receiving cisplatin develop hearing loss.

The patents for D-methionine have been licensed by Molecular Therapies Inc. in Ann Arbor, Mich., which has developed a proprietary oral suspension formulation called MRX-1024. The company is currently conducting two Phase II clinical trials in India for D-methionine protection from hearing loss caused by cisplatin chemotherapy and by a particular class of antibiotics.

Campbell's research on hearing-protective agents has been funded by grants from the National Institutes of Health.

—by Ruth Slottag, School of Medicine