Thousands of American soldiers and millions of civilians could avoid noise-related hearing loss if the final stage of research, scheduled to begin next month at a U.S. Army base, continues to prove the benefit of a protective medicine invented by a scientist at Springfields Southern Illinois University School of Medicine.

I want to see this over the finish line, said Kathleen Campbell, an SIU faculty member for almost 25 years and the medical schools first researcher to bring an invention to the highest level of testing a Phase 3 clinical trial on the path to Food and Drug Administration approval.

Campbell has developed an orange-flavored liquid containing a concentrated form of a substance called D-methionine, or D-met. A component of protein commonly found in cheese and yogurt, D-met has been shown in several studies by Campbell and other scientists in the United States and abroad to slow the development of the free radicals that can lead to long-term hearing loss after exposure to loud noise.

Five years away? The Phase 3 trial, lasting for two years, will test the effectiveness of up to four daily tablespoons of D-met syrup taken by drill-sergeant instructor candidates during two weeks of training at Fort Jackson in South Carolina.

They fire exactly 500 rounds of M16 weapon fire in 11 days, Campbell said. Its a double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial. At the end of the trial, we should have less permanent hearing loss in those that are on D-met rather than the placebo.

A total of 600 soldiers will take part in the study as part of a $2.5 million grant Campbell received from the U.S. Department of Defense.

If Campbell can secure financial support from a private company willing to license her patents for D-met and fund a second required Phase 3 trial, the medicine could receive FDA approval and be on the market in as soon as five years, she said.

Studies so far indicate the medicine could be taken before, during and up to three days after the noise exposure and still help cells in the inner ear recover. Body type J: Theyre damaged, theyre floating in all of these toxins, but theyre still alive, Campbell said.

Medicinal first f brought to market, her invention would be the first medicine proven to prevent noise-induced hearing loss, the most-common cause of hearing loss worldwide.

This problem costs the federal government at least $2 billion a year in medical costs and disability payments for active and retired military personnel, Campbell said.

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SIU inventor's medicine to protect hearing nears final research phase