First Look at 6B-001, 65Bio's Preclinical Drug Candidate for the Treatment of Chronic Tinnitus

Some new information about 6B-001, a preclinical tinnitus (and hearing loss) drug that is currently being developed by 65Bio Inc, a biotech startup based in Wellesley, MA.

Here is what we know so far, starting with a description from the Product page of the 65Bio company website:

65Bio lead product is 6B-001 an orally available small molecule found to be well tolerated in human. 6B-001 is in preclinical development phase for the treatment of auditory pathologies. The initial focus is on the treatment of chronic tinnitus and the longer-term focus is on hearing loss and vertigo.

While this official description does not tell us very much about the drug… it does provide clues that can potentially reveal more details about the drug, and lead us to its [plausible] mechanisms i.e., how it might treat tinnitus and/or hearing loss, etc.

The raw facts:

6B-001
orally available
small molecule
safe/tested in humans
tinnitus, hearing loss, vertigo, auditory pathologies

Together, these facts strongly suggest that we are probably looking for an existing drug that has completed phase 1 clinical trials and met safety endpoints. Which also means the drug is one that is being studied and tested for other health conditions… and “6B-001” is the codename for its tinnitus-related use.

Of course, those details alone do not narrow down the list of plausible 6B-001 candidates. What we need is a short list of possible drugs that “6B-001” might represent.

Fortunately, our hunt for this mystery drug becomes dramatically easier when we add certain constraints.

In this case, limiting our “suspects” to drugs that are currently being developed by other companies that are funded by the same group as 65Bio Inc. Follow the money…

So, we know that 65Bio Inc is backed by Extera Partners.

According to the Extera Partners website, Extera has a portfolio of biotech companies. And we can see that six of these companies are in the same category (“venture creation”) as 65Bio.

These other five companies are where we want to look for clues and connections… in hopes of finding drugs that seem like they might be strong candidates for treating tinnitus. According to existing research and known/suspected mechanisms… as well as overlapping health conditions that are often associated with tinnitus.

Put another way, we want to investigate the drug development pipelines of these five other companies… to see if we can find any drugs that might involve mechanisms/targets that are associated with tinnitus or hearing loss or vertigo…

By doing this, we might be able to identify which of these drugs is likeliest to be “6B-001” (or some variation of it, with a different name, for a different condition, or perhaps in combination with something else),

This approach assumes that 65Bio Inc is a “spinoff” of one of Extera’s properties. Created for the potential tinnitus-treating component (and auditory pathology related components) of a drug or drugs that are hiding somewhere in the pipelines of one or more of their portfolio companies.

The strong overlap between the people involved in 65Bio and these five other companies and Extera… is another reason why we suspect to find the drug identity within the Extera portfolio.

Sure enough, that seems to be the case.

At least, we now have some plausible candidates and clues.

COMMENT: As of right now [7/23/2021], I cannot confirm the mechanism behind 6B-001. But I have found some leads…

After reviewing the drug portfolios of the five other Extera Partners-backed ventures (Janus, Censa, Acatama, Acer, Intera), here is a list of some possible drugs/mechanisms/targets that are possibly related to 6B-001 — presented in no particular order:

anti-TLR drug (toll-like receptor antagonism) — autoimmune/inflammation connection + known overlap between tinnitus and Sjogren’s, SLE, etc..
vatiquinone, PTC743, EPI-743 — epilepsy + mitochondrial connection
PTC857, 15-lipoxygenase — inflammation/oxidative stress connection
unesbulin, PTC596, BMI-1 inhibitor — BMI-1 + hair cell connection
sepiapterin — tetrahydrobiopterin disorder connection, autism overlap connection
TO BE CONTINUED [last updated: 7/23/2021 at 1:56 PM EST]

[Work in progress. Draft copy.]

This is an incomplete “short list” of possible drugs that might be repurposed for tinnitus and/or hearing loss or reformulated… and called “6B-001” (or 6B-002). Furthermore, this is unofficial information. It is patchy guesswork. As such, it should be considered nothing more than an educated and semi-structured form of good ol’ fashioned wild speculation.

Having said that, it also provides us with the raw ingredients to make sense of 6B-001… until 65Bio decides it is time to relieve us of our nagging curiosity… and issue a press release or add a couple more paragraphs to their website. (If anyone reading wants to email them and ask “What is the mechanism behind 6B-001 for chronic tinnitus?”, have at it: admin@65bio.com) Oh, and if anyone does this… and forwards me the reply… I will happily send them a copy of my next email newsletter anywhere from 12-24 hours before I email it to everyone else. (Super ultra early access, or whatever you want to call it.)

Last but not least… since I have not had the time to dig deeper into any of these “short list” drugs for 6B-001… and there might also be a few missing… I am hoping this draft article and these breadcrumbs are enough to fuel some more in-depth discussions in places such as reddit’s r/tinnitusresearch community, Tinnitus Talk (research section… also, shout out to My Posting Place crew), and… our international friends in places such as MyTinnitus.de. (Speaking of which, if you run or manage a tinnitus forum that I have not yet linked to… and, your community discusses these newsletter issues and this website… feel free to send me an email and say hello. I always want to help people find places to discuss this research… and there’s a tinnitus forum out there for everyone.)

6B-001 Updates

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