There are over 30 million people in the US and over 600 million worldwide who suffer from some form of hearing loss. Over 80% of those cases are estimated to be a result of damage to the auditory hair cells. Most common causes of damage include age-related, noise-induced, and drug-induced (e.g., chemotherapy). Fate’s novel approach to auditory hair cell regeneration should hold therapeutic utility across each of the most common causes of hearing loss.

Current treatments for hearing loss consist of hearing aids or cochlear implants; there are no approved pharmaceutical options. Hearing aids rely on the continued function of auditory hair cells in the inner ear and do not correct for specific sounds, while cochlear implants require invasive surgery and cause damage to what remains of the cochlear architecture—consequently, both may result in a lower quality of life. Because of these liabilities associated with the mechanical treatments, the hearing loss market is only 20% penetrated, implying a vast need for better options to restore hearing function. With support from the U.S. Army, Fate has begun investigating therapeutic intervention strategies to regenerate cells within the inner ear that are responsible for hearing. Fate is deploying its robust discovery engine including its advanced cell isolation, cell state characterization, and iPSC technologies, along with its knowledge of key regenerative signaling pathways, to identify molecules that confer the desired restorative effect.