Cure discovered! 5.5 million given to Follica to develop it.

[metalheaddude]

This is a very exciting study. Its already been tested on animals and is a successful technique for re-growng hair. Here is some snippits from the articles. People just dont invest 5.5 million in a study that is useless.

"The firm, which employs three people, is developing a treatment that begins with a procedure called microdermabrasion to remove the top layer of skin, said Zohar. A topical drug is then applied to the skin to induce the skin stem cells to turn into hair follicles"

"The technology has been tested in lab animals, Zohar said, and the new capital is intended to fund an initial human study"

Sources here:

http://www.bizjournals.com/masshightech ... ily23.html

http://www.medicalnewstoday.com/articles/71152.php

 

[kento]

Good to be true let's pray for it... i like the words "cure discovered"

 

[phish]

ive been following follica for a while and I think its the biggest thing in hairloss coming down the pipe line and wont be longer then 2 years. this and ascj 9 im the most excited about one of these are bound to work and be ready in next 2 years. not this in 5 years sh*t like hair mult we keep hearing every 5 years.

 

[philly]

...

 

[metalheaddude]

I agree. HM is just a pipe dream, it will never become a reality. HM is the wrong angle to approach this, I really like how Follica are tackling the situation. Removing grafts of skin then using stem cells to grow your own hair into the skin graft. Then I guess they graft back unto ur head..i dont know

 

[hairsucks]

Does anyone know if the human studies have started yet? The best thing about this treatment is that they don't have to go through FDA trials so it could realistically be here soon, well it’s at least a year away.

 

[metalheaddude]

Why doesnt it have to go through FDA? Think of the lucky guys who will part of the human trials. If you look at the articles I linked at the top it seems to indicate that human trials will be beginning now as they now have a 5.5 million dollar grant. How good is that??! Very exciting.

 

[hairsucks]

I’m sure I read they don't have to, Maybe I'm wrong, someone here will know.

All I can find is this article which does say they can jump through a lot of government hoops because the components of the system are already approved.


Because the components of the system are already approved, the regulatory path is pretty straightforward, and Follica can perform human studies without jumping through a lot of governmental hoops. That’s exactly what the company plans to do with the money it has just raised. A proof of concept study involving 15 to 20 patients (Follica has no shortage of volunteers, as several hundred people sent in e-mails when word of Cotsarelis’s work reached the public) should begin in the next few months. The trial has several phases, however, and Zohar cautions that final data won’t be in for at least a year. So don’t pull your hair out waiting for results.

http://www.xconomy.com/2008/01/04/g...s-to-begin-human-trial-of-baldness-treatment/

 

[hairsucks]

There is a thread on the subject about Follica not needing the FDA approval here.

http://www.hairlosshelp.com/forums/messageview.cfm?catid=26&threadid=75277

 

[cal]

Metalhead,

Folica's method is gonna basically replace the hair you originally had in a given spot. I've heard nothing concrete to indicate that the new hairs will be any more DHT-resistant than the old stuff was at that location. I see no reason to think that they would be any different except for some cheerful "don't worry about it" excuses from Folica that don't make any sense to me whatsoever.


Meanwhile, HM is gonna mostly rehab the existing follicles and get rid of the DHT susceptibilty in them.



In light of this situation, how can you really think this new Folica thing is a better idea for us (at least overall) than ICX's HM?

 

[metalheaddude]

I've heard nothing concrete to indicate that the new hairs will be any more DHT-resistant than the old stuff was at that location.

Meanwhile, HM is gonna mostly rehab the existing follicles and get rid of the DHT susceptibilty in them.

Wow ok. Yeah that didnt occur to me. But I assume they will take stem cells from hair in the donor areas so its DHT resistant? I really don't know, im still learning and trying to understand this Follica stuff.

 

[cal]

The "stem cells from the donor areas" thing is basically what ICX's hair multiplication thing is doing. They're harvesting a few dermal papillae cells from male pattern baldness-resistant donor hairs, multiplying them in the lab, and then re-injecting them into balding areas to reprogram the balding hairs for male pattern baldness resistance.


Folica's new thing is the dermabrasion/WNT deal. It sounds extremely simple & effective at causing your body to start producing new hairs from scratch in any given area. But your body is probably gonna make the new hairs no different than it made the original hairs in that spot, male pattern baldness resistant or not.

Although even if Folica's process doesn't give any additional male pattern baldness resistance, there would still be gains to be had. You could regenerate new hairs in the donor area and continually transplant them into the balding areas, for example. It could also just prove to be a very good & cheap source of raw-material hairs for ICX to reinforce against male pattern baldness later.

 

[oyo]

ok, so you might have to get a follica treatment every five years to maintain a full head of hair. Don't worry though, every time you go in for treatment, HM will be 'five years away' too.

 

[harold]

The unofficial word from follica is that they feel theres a good chance the new hairs will be DHT resistant.
Even if they aren't I dont see that it is that much of a big deal. Only the most aggressive balding would shut down a new follicle within at least a couple of years. I would say most people would get at the least a good 5 years out of that new hair. Thats nothing to sneeze at, especially when we are talking about the ability to restore hair to even those intractable "slick bald" patches.
It would be nice if they are DHT resistant. If they arent then I guess you would have to go back again. Or as someone else said it will mean that the time before hair follicle cloning does finally arrive doesn't have to be spent bald.
hh

 

[metalheaddude]

I agree Harold. Even if the hair is not DHT resistant I wont care much. As you say you will get at least 5 years our of it or more with the help of propecia.

 

[hairsucks]

I wonder how much it will cost. I guess we'll just have to wait and see.

 

[metalheaddude]

I wish I was 5 years younger before all this hairloss thing began. Guys who havent started to bald yet are going to be very fortunate indeed. We are the guinea pigs for them. They will enjoy full thick hair for the rest of there lives.

 

[cal]

I don't see how the Folica thing could possibly cost a whole lot, unless they're artificially manipulating the price way beyond their price of doing it.

Dermabrasion is basically just chemically sandpapering your skin, and the chemicals applied can only cost so much to make. Even if it costs them $2K to make the chemicals (as someone said somewhere recently), that's still nowhere near the cost of hair transplants.

And mass production drastically cheapens anything. You can get a decent home computer for the same price as a couple of sheetmetal fenders on a car. As long as it's not made of platinum and it doesn't demand a ton of skilled-labor hours to do the job, anything can get relatively cheap compared to hair transplants.

 

[scalpt]

You may not have to settle for a temporary result:
This was posted on

http://www.xconomy.com/2008/01/04/gone- ... treatment/

[# David Steinberg
1/4/08 2:12 pm
"I am with the company. While we have not tested this in humans yet we fully expect that hair will persist. There are multiple reasons for this. First of all, consider hair transplants - while they have other flaws, the hair does indeed persist despite the presence of circulating DHT. In a distinct, but similar way, the Follica treatment changes the microenvironment of the follicles. Further, a single hair cycle lasts several years, and at the very least the new hair should last one full cycle (because of the underlying physiology of the condition). Also, circulating levels of DHT actually drop over a man’s life. We have seen numerous clinical reports of patients showing sustained hair cycling when exposed to conditions similar to the treatment Follica is pursuing (in a carefully directed and controlled way)."]

 

[scalpt]

Another thing to think about: Hasn't this technique grown hair in skin that had never grown hair before? It would seem possible that the new hair develops independently of the genes for that area of skin. Similar to the 'donor dominance' we see with hair transplantation.