by Neil Bauman, Ph.D.
A lady asked me about a reported new drug cure for tinnitus. She wrote,
I wonder if you’ve heard anything about Caroverine? What are your thoughts?
She referred to an article published in Hearing Review on January 19, 2012 (1). This was in turn picked up from an article published back in November, 2010 that began, “Lincoln Pharmaceuticals Ltd. (LPL), an Ahmedabad-based drug manufacturing firm company today announced that it has launched Caroverine injection under the brand name ‘TINNITIN’ which is India’s first drug to treat Tinnitus – a disease commonly known as ‘ringing in the ear’.
The company developed Caroverine injection under research and development collaboration with Phafag AG, a Switzerland-based drug manufacturing firm, a release from LPL said.” (2)
Here are my thoughts. Like all the other tinnitus treatments out there, this drug treatment works for some people and not for others. Furthermore, it doesn’t cure tinnitus as such, it just reduces it while you are taking this drug. When you go off the drug you can expect your tinnitus to come back.
However, Caroverine should not be taken in the long term as it has other side effects on your body. Basically it is a Glutamate antagonist. “Glutamate is very important to many bodily functions and must not be inhibited long-term. Glutamate is an amino acid and one of the most important building blocks of proteins. It is also vital for metabolism and brain function.” (3) Therefore, if you suppress too much glutamate activity in your body or brain, nasty things will happen.
Thus, in order to be effective, researchers have to find a way to make this drug only work on the glutamate receptors in the auditory circuits and not everywhere else in the body. (Researchers are currently trying micro-catheters but these have their own problems.)
I find it interesting that although this drug has been around and used for about 40 years, it is still not approved in the USA—the drug capital of the world. That alone, should tell you something about the safety/efficacy of this drug.
If you want to learn more about tinnitus and what you can do to help bring it under your control, check out the new 5th edition of “When Your Ears Ring! Cope with Your Tinnitus—Here’s How“.
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(1) First Pharmaceutical Cure for Tinnitus Reportedly Launched in India. Hearing Review Jan 19, 2012.
(2) Lincoln Pharma launches India’s first drug for Tinnitus. November 16, 2010.
(3) Barry Keate. The Promise of Caroverine for Tinnitus.
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