Neuromonics
The Australian Financial Review had a major article on the Australian life science sector's situation in their weekend edition. I was not surprised to read that while scientists in this sector are experiencing success with major breakthroughs and developments, many of them have to resort to overseas institutions and the stock market for adequate funds to take their discoveries to the next level (ie Stage Three clinical trials, one step before reaching market).
Though the Australian goverment is generous with funding basic resarch ($1.12 billion was provided for biotechnology-related R&D in 2003), prohibitive costs of reaching Stage Three clinical trials (up to $410 million) generally mean the rest of the development process is licensed to somebody who has the funds to finish the job and bring the product to market.
Anyway I digress, what really got my attention was the mention of a company called Neuromonics, that had developed a treatment for tinnitus. For those of you who may not know, tinnitus is a non-curable condition where the sufferer hears a constant noise originating in the ear. It's similar to the ringing after extended exposure to loud music, but pitch and tone can vary for different people and it does not go away. To hear the sounds of tinnitus, here's an MP3 from Neuromonics that plays the different sorts of sounds people with tinnitus may hear. The second type of sound (a high pitched noise) is what one of my friends hears, all the time.
He says "most people get it from hearing loss as a result of going to too many nightclubs with loud music etc...but mine was the after effects of an ear infection I got as part of a nasty flu...I would have rather had the loud music instead! And when I got mine it was just before Year 12 VCE exams...sooo hard to study, sounded like a train was rushing through my head."
Does anyone suffer from, or know somebody who suffers from, tinnitus?
Though the Australian goverment is generous with funding basic resarch ($1.12 billion was provided for biotechnology-related R&D in 2003), prohibitive costs of reaching Stage Three clinical trials (up to $410 million) generally mean the rest of the development process is licensed to somebody who has the funds to finish the job and bring the product to market.
Anyway I digress, what really got my attention was the mention of a company called Neuromonics, that had developed a treatment for tinnitus. For those of you who may not know, tinnitus is a non-curable condition where the sufferer hears a constant noise originating in the ear. It's similar to the ringing after extended exposure to loud music, but pitch and tone can vary for different people and it does not go away. To hear the sounds of tinnitus, here's an MP3 from Neuromonics that plays the different sorts of sounds people with tinnitus may hear. The second type of sound (a high pitched noise) is what one of my friends hears, all the time.
He says "most people get it from hearing loss as a result of going to too many nightclubs with loud music etc...but mine was the after effects of an ear infection I got as part of a nasty flu...I would have rather had the loud music instead! And when I got mine it was just before Year 12 VCE exams...sooo hard to study, sounded like a train was rushing through my head."
Does anyone suffer from, or know somebody who suffers from, tinnitus?