Restoring Hearing through Gene Therapies

About 10 percent of children who are diagnosed with hearing loss at birth have an auditory neuropathy that is usually due to a genetic cause. One of the most common genetic causes of hearing loss is due to a mutation of the otoferlin gene, which encodes for a protein that enables communication between the sensory cells of the inner ear and the auditory nerve. Decibel Therapeutics is developing an experimental gene therapy intended to restore hearing in patients with a mutation of the otoferlin gene. It is part of a larger collaboration with Regeneron Pharmaceuticals. We spoke to Laurence Reid, CEO of Decibel, about the unmet need in genetic hearing loss, how these conditions can affect early development of children, and the case for gene therapies to treat these conditions.