Neramexane for Tinnitus

Summary

Tinnitus is commonly referred to as "ringing of the ears" - the perception of sounds in the absence of an external source of acoustic signals. Tinnitus may represent a severe disease and symptoms include depression, sleeping difficulties, decreased sound tolerance and hearing loss. One hypothesis is that tinnitus is caused by an increased activity of NMDA glutamate and dysfunctional alpha9/alpha10 acetylcholine receptors in the inner ear and central nervous system. Neramexane may alleviate tinnitus symptoms due to its NMDA and alpha9/alpha10 nACh receptor blocking activity. The purpose of this study is to assess the safety and efficacy of Neramexane compared with placebo in patients with subjective tinnitus.

Timeline

Start

2005-10

Primary completion

2007-03

Completion

2007-03

Outcome

Missed primary endpoint

paper This treatment difference did not reach statistical significance at the pre-defined endpoint in Week 16 (p = 0.098 for 50 mg/d; p = 0.289 for 75 mg/d neramexane) PMID 21223542 ↗

Publications

• Results Suckfull M, Althaus M, Ellers-Lenz B, Gebauer A, Gortelmeyer R, Jastreboff PJ, Moebius HJ, Rosenberg T, Russ H, Wirth Y, Krueger H. A randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial to evaluate the efficacy and safety of neramexane in patients with moderate to severe subjective tinnitus. BMC Ear Nose Throat Disord. 2011 Jan 11;11:1. doi: 10.1186/1472-6815-11-1.
• Gortelmeyer R, Schmidt J, Suckfull M, Jastreboff P, Gebauer A, Kruger H, Wittmann W. Assessment of tinnitus-related impairments and disabilities using the German THI-12: sensitivity and stability of the scale over time. Int J Audiol. 2011 Aug;50(8):523-9. doi: 10.3109/14992027.2011.578591.

Drugs

Indications