Histogen in the local news

[waynakyo]

http://www.sddt.com/news/article.cfm?So ... 0091029crd


What will catch your attention is that:

"The hair product could be on the market in Asia within the next two years."

But please read through it is interesting, particularly the way she explained and stresses how they rely on the literature and other existing research (remember they had a lawsuit earlier ?).

I am not getting my hopes up but I am starting to get more convinced about Histogen. But after ICX broke my heart I am attaching no strings

And please don't ask how much it will cost, if it becomes a reality, consider it my treat :innocent:

 

[kento]

They present impressive pre clinical trial photos. Will be treatment like propecia/minoxidil so we need to take to the rest of our lifes.

So in Asia they don't need any FDA stuff or so?

The good thing is thats they already prove that this stuff works, not like ICX who didn't get impressive results. So they now need to check if is safe i guess.

btw Anyone does anyone have news about Follica. They are so quiet when we can expect update from them.

 

[DHR]

was going to make a thread for this article myself, histogen just sound better and better, thanks for posting.

kento: it looks to be a powerful growth stimulant, so in terms of what it does it's somewhat like minoxidil, but potentially a good deal more powerful.

That said, as mentioned numerous times here, the treatment doesn't do anything to tackle the underlying DHT-issue causation of hair loss. So it'll prolly be the case that we'll still have to be on finasteride/dutasteride as 'foundation drugs' and I think it's been thrown around that people may need yearly/bi-yearly histogen 'top ups', but nothing too definative has been said yet, so we'll have to wait and see.



edit: the article is now not showing for me, asking me to register. I looked about and found a mirror of it.

For anyone else having trouble viewing the article, here you are.

Histogen exec sees growing promise in stem cell technology
By ELIZABETH MALLOY
Thursday, October 29, 2009

For Gail Naughton, one of the most exciting things about her company Histogen's recent clinical trial is just how fast they're seeing results.
The trial, conducted in South America, is for a hair re-growth treatment. Looking at pictures of patient samples, the before and after differences are easy to see.
"You don't have to be a hair expert to see there are hairs where there were not (before) and they're thicker hairs," Naughton said, looking at photos of patients who received Histogen's hair re-growth treatment in South America. "One injection, we were able to increase it by 100 new hairs."
Hair regrowth is just one of the possible treatments Histogen hopes to generate with its stem cell technology. The company also has the potential to grow new organ cells, nerve cells in the spine, even treat cancer. But Naughton said hair treatments would have a huge initial market, which can bring in funding for other more serious conditions.
"Hair can really generate a lot of excitement and help us raise the cash we need to develop the other products," she said.
Histogen's chairwoman and chief executive, Naughton is somewhat of a rarity in that she is both a scientist and a businesswoman. She is working to make this less of a rarity in her other job -- as dean of San Diego State University's College of Business Administration. There, she has helped develop a joint Ph.D. and MBA program that will teach more scientists business skills, and vice versa.

Gail Naughton
A native of Brooklyn, N.Y., Naughton was a scientist first, only learning the business side when she started her first company, Advanced Tissue Sciences Inc., in 1991. The technology Histogen is based on is from Naughton's own research.
While Histogen can be considered a stem cell company, the treatments the company is working on uses a protein secreted by stem cells, rather than the actual cells themselves. The company gets the protein using a unique strategy.
"The whole premise of Histogen is that if you go and grow human cells under conditions that are embryonic-like, the cells will revert back, and become embryonic," she explained.
One of the advantages scientists have long seen with embryonic stem cells is that they secrete a kind of protein called WNT proteins. These are the proteins that signal to cells how to differentiate, or turn into the various muscle, bone, organ and blood cells they should grow into.
Researchesr believed that they could isolate WNT proteins and use them to stimulate tissue growth and regrow things like organs, skin and hair.
Naughton's discovery with Histogen, which was based on other researchers' work, was that by growing cells in an embryonic environment -- low-gravity and low-oxygen -- within a few days, the cells would revert to their embronic state. This means the company could get WNT proteins without having to drestroy actual embryoes.
"We're not the basic, 'A-ha!' discovery research (company)," she explained. "We're there saying, 'We know the composition of what we have, we know what's unique about it, let's go to the literature and see what other people have found to be important with these and let's go after the therapuetic areas, which are our greatest need right now.'"
While it conducts research on different therapuetic treatments, Histogen has products on the market which help generate some cashflow, though not enough to fully fund the company yet. The company sells a stem cell product, and is awaiting FDA approval for a wound care product.
The hair product could be on the market in Asia within the next two years.
Histogen has suffered some setbacks in the last year. The company had 38 employees until last January, when it was hit with a lawsuit over patent infrigement. Histogen had to lay most of the staff off, but still has 11 full-time employees. Naughton said that after another round of fundraising, they hope to begin rehiring.
The company is currently raising money to expand its hair re-growth trial in Asia.
As both the executive officer of Histogen and the dean of SDSU's business school, Naughton acknowledged that she's a very busy woman. She works about seven days a week, whether it's raising venture funding for the company, reading up on new possibilities for WNT proteins or creating international studies programs for her business students. Still, she said, she wouldn't have it any other way.
"By being able to be involved with both, I keep myself at a good balance," she said. "I love what I do."

 

[khali]

I am not getting my hopes up but I am starting to get more convinced about Histogen. But after ICX broke my heart I am attaching no strings

And please don't ask how much it will cost, if it becomes a reality, consider it my treat :innocent:

Intercytex tried to multiply your hair, which was a very hard task to do. However, this company I believe is trying to grow back the hair which is not growing anymore. I don't think their goal is impossible. Its not like they are aiming for a full head of hair either.
As long as we can replace the current treatments like propecia and rogain, I am happy.

 

[waynakyo]

I am too hoping for some positive update from follica. I always thought their idea to be crazy but smart, but I am not very optimstic due to the difficulty of the process.

As for histogen, I am not worrying about whether the hair will be DHT resistant or not, probably not. But given how many years it takes to thin the hair out, this shouldn't be a concern.

However my concern was about the thickness of the hair. Of course it is too early and after 3 months it is hard to tell, but while the increase in the number of hairs is very significant the increase in diameter is barely so.

fingers crossed, really... this has been the closest to "cure" so far, ICX we did not see photos and follica we saw some of mice..

go histo !!

 

[kento]

So another minoxidil thing but much more powerful. Hope that will give more long time results. It will be nice one/two injection per year will save our hair for that year. Today treatments really suck, finasteride sides plus applying topicals every day is a pain in the ***.

waynakyo: Why you aren't so optimistic about Follica. They are convinced that they have the key but it suck that they are so quiet about the research. Sometimes i get feeling like they are out of this game

 

[DHR]

well if you're managing to maintain your hair currently on finasteride/dit, one would think you'd be able to maintain any hair gained by histogen

 

[kento]

well if you're managing to maintain your hair currently on finasteride/dit, one would think you'd be able to maintain any hair gained by histogen

Taking a pill per day to keep the hair loss is easy job. But we all know the downside of these two.