Patients with congenital hearing loss could benefit from a gene therapy currently in development. Although there are approaches that could reverse the process in children and young people before it becomes severe, so far, adults do not have any treatment that prevents the progressive deterioration of auditory sensory cells caused by this disease.

Many patients with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis (ALS) or frontotemporal dementia (FTD) harbor the (G4C2)n pathogenic repeat expansion in the C9orf72 gene, which leads to aggregating dipeptide proteins, mainly poly-glycine-alanine (poly-GA).

Abata Therapeutics Inc. has obtained FDA clearance for its IND application enabling initiation of a first-in-human study of ABA-101 in patients with progressive multiple sclerosis (MS). A phase I study will open later this year.

Brains from people with heroin use disorder have an increased number of hypocretin (Hcrt, orexin) neurons, which in turn are significantly smaller than in healthy controls. Meanwhile, human narcolepsy is known to present an average 90% loss of Hcrt neurons and no risk for drug abuse or overdose, even under methamphetamine or methylphenidate prescription, because of a greatly reduced reward activation of the ventral tegmental area (VTA).

Uniqure NV shares (NASDAQ:QURE) closed July 9 at $6.67, up $2.89, or 76%, after the firm made public updated interim data including up to 24 months of follow-up findings from 29 treated patients enrolled in the ongoing U.S. and European phase I/II trials of AMT-130 for Huntington’s disease (HD).

On the heels of positive phase II results of its extended-release ketamine (R-107) in treatment-resistant depression, Douglas Pharmaceuticals Ltd. is gearing up to begin phase III trials of its ketamine treatment that is safe enough to take at home without clinical supervision.

Beijing DP Technology Co. Ltd. has nominated DPT-0415, a novel small molecule targeting lipoprotein‐associated phospholipase A2 (Lp-PLA2), as a preclinical candidate for the treatment of diabetic retinopathy (DR) and diabetic macular edema (DME).