Johnson & Johnson's Corporate Office of Science & Technology (COSAT) has agreed to fund a research programme on hearing loss conduced by University College London's (UCL) Ear Institute under a partnership between the pharmaceutical giant and RNID, a non-profit organisation for the hearing impaired in the UK.
The UCL research programme is the partnership’s first initiative which will focus on research that prevents progressive forms of hearing loss that involve the degeneration of the hair cells within the cochlea. Dr. Sally Dawson and Jonathan Gale at UCL’s Ear Institute would lead the programme, according to a statement. It didn’t disclose any financial details about the funding.
The World Health Organisation has estimated that 250 million people worldwide have a moderate-to-severe or greater hearing loss, RNID said. The treatments that are available today are limited to the use of hearing aids and cochlear implants, and currently there is no approved treatment to prevent the onset and progression of hearing loss, or restore natural function, it added.
RNID is a not-for-profit for the
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