Deafness caused by a faulty gene is permanent; nothing can restore the hearing

What actually happened

OTOF-related deafness is a clean target because the defect is a single missing protein, otoferlin, that the hair cells need to pass sound signals to the nerve. The hair cells themselves are intact; they just cannot talk. Deliver a good copy of the gene and, in principle, the ear starts working. Otarmeni does exactly that, surgically dripped into the cochlea in a single procedure.

The honest boundaries matter. This treats one rare genetic cause, not the many other reasons people are deaf, and it is not a pill; it is inner-ear surgery with an experimental biologic, approved on accelerated terms with confirmatory data still to come. But the flat classroom statement, that inherited deafness is a permanent fact of the body, is the thing that broke. Regeneron is even providing it free in the US, which tells you how small and specific the eligible group is. What changed is the category: for at least one kind of genetic deafness, the ear can now be repaired rather than bypassed.