, Columnist
A Cure for Hearing Loss? Gene Therapies Are Getting Closer
It’s early days yet, but there’s hope in the story of an 11-year-old boy who can now hear for the first time.
Stop, hey, what’s that sound?
Photographer: Children’s Hospital of Philadelphia
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Every once in a while, modern medicine can feel like a bit of magic. Like when a vaccine is shown to eliminate cases of cervical cancer among young women or gene editing allows someone with sickle cell disease to live without constant pain. Or when an experimental gene therapy allows a deaf 11-year-old boy to hear.
Aissam Dam is now able to hear sound for the first time in his young life. The treatment he received, developed by Eli Lilly & Co. subsidiary Akouos Inc., is aimed at fixing the underlying cause of his congenital deafness.