I just don't really understand the apologists for how they've chosen to go about this lol. This is almost undoubtedly a negative sign that they would be asking for donations on twitter, yet people have given every excuse possible for why they'd be doing this and when they could see investors.
RIKEN Announcement: Succeeded in Developing Tech for HF Regenerative Medicine: Study to be Published Feb 10
- Thread starter pegasus2
- Start date
Well probably because this opinion just doesn't make sense lol. There is the ability to work on more then 1 thing at a time, and the money to do so as well.
I don't like that too, but i think we can't judge without knowing the full story.
Honestly the most surprising part of all of this is the fact they are only asking for 5 million, while stemson needs 3 times that for their pigs preclincal study.
- Reaction score
- 1,104
Probably many investors and VC are just more interested into a good treatment for cancer than a "its a cure" tweet/slogan. It's my personal opinion.
- Reaction score
- 493
Oh I realize. That’s why people say “infinite”, because relatively it is. However with avg 6k donor zone, 100x per each follicle implies 600,000k follicles harvested and cultured... if it works like that. No idea.You do realize that most people don't have over 200k follicles on their heads? What would you be going for with 600,000
I agree though, I need human proof before I change anything in the present (ie get a hair transplant).
also Riken announced that their preclinical safety test on a human was successful. However I need mass human proof till I start booking hair transplants, hopefully thats within the next 2 years.
- Reaction score
- 493
You don’t see how it would be beneficial to not pay interest or dilute ownership of your company to borrow money when you could just ask people who are willing to give you money?
- Reaction score
- 373
You do realize that most people don't have over 200k follicles on their heads? What would you be going for with 600,000
I agree though, I need human proof before I change anything in the present (ie get a hair transplant).
I think they are trying to advertise with the donations and are partially succeeding
Yeah sure in a imaginary world, but in real life it's going to take 10s of millions more to bring this to market and pass regulatory hurdles around the globe and even in Japan. A company like this should have structured partnerships with investors to craft that business process WHILE they go through the clinical trials process. What you just said is the equivalent of a grant in the business world, which I would not have a problem with if they received.
The way this is being pursued just leaves me to believe that even if they are able to drag this successfully through trials that we'd see a major hurdle with actually seeing it available anywhere at all. More likely they fail during trials because they don't have money and didn't create relationships with strategic investors, though.
Then why are VC firms funding other "cure" like treatments for hairloss? Stemson has VC seed funding, Moogene does as well.
- Reaction score
- 582
This is basically whats happening in every research lab/center. Researchers are working towards the next funding period, meaning they have to impress the people who grant those budgets. The result orientation of research labs isn't what people think it is. The result they are working towards is funding, first. The result they are working for is getting regular paychecks in for a longer period.
So we know this is a billion dollar idea, and they only need 5 mil. Rikens budget is like 800 mil/year (I think). So what you'd do first is try to get money from the Riken pool, obviously.
Now perhaps this years money is already spent/planned with, although it's hard for me to believe that they wouldn't be getting the money immediately when the payout is so large if you could convince the people who allocate the budgets at Riken with actual hair grown on a human. You'd be surprised how quickly 5% of a yearly budget is suddenly available when you have a promising billion dollar idea. At the very least, they should be getting this money 2022, and tbh they should be getting it if their idea even had only a 5% chance of working.
So the problem is that they are not convincing for Rikens internal expert panels allocating the money. There is no way some scientists who produce results are like "yep, lets ask for donations for a cosmetic issue instead for money from our firm".
You don't need advertising through a call for donations. That's just unprofessional. Shocking, really. Grow hair on a human being, and the whole world is looking at you.
Another day, another hair loss money grabbing strategy.
So we know this is a billion dollar idea, and they only need 5 mil. Rikens budget is like 800 mil/year (I think). So what you'd do first is try to get money from the Riken pool, obviously.
Now perhaps this years money is already spent/planned with, although it's hard for me to believe that they wouldn't be getting the money immediately when the payout is so large if you could convince the people who allocate the budgets at Riken with actual hair grown on a human. You'd be surprised how quickly 5% of a yearly budget is suddenly available when you have a promising billion dollar idea. At the very least, they should be getting this money 2022, and tbh they should be getting it if their idea even had only a 5% chance of working.
So the problem is that they are not convincing for Rikens internal expert panels allocating the money. There is no way some scientists who produce results are like "yep, lets ask for donations for a cosmetic issue instead for money from our firm".
You don't need advertising through a call for donations. That's just unprofessional. Shocking, really. Grow hair on a human being, and the whole world is looking at you.
Another day, another hair loss money grabbing strategy.
- Reaction score
- 1,104
Maybe they don't even rank tsujis solution as THE solution. I wonder if Stemson will even get their needed funds... Money is always the problem, we live in a cruel world. If people really want to push this research to an end, even governments should "properly" invest into it.
- Reaction score
- 493
Time will tell.
Exactly. It's almost unbelievable to me to see a company that thinks they have a real cloning procedure figured out in the time of a boom in the hair transplant industry globally have to resort to asking for donations on social media. I don't know if its a scam or just wildly unprofessional but either way it's completely killed any hype I for the procedure.
No one cares if its "the solution", that's not how investing works. Just if it has the potential for a return on investment.
- Reaction score
- 1,104
They even said that themselves. Most likely the bioengineered follicle is just not capable of keeping an on-going life-cycle.
Phase 0 is probably what they are referring to. It doesn't take much money, and they already have approval for it so it's not hard to believe the translation is correct.
They did tell us, but you think it's a translation error. We just went in a circle.
- Reaction score
- 292
Even in November when they make a skin tissue analog they didn’t receive any additional investment. They are taking a different business approach
Like I said, we just went in a circle, and now you're doing the same circle again. Your argument didn't convince me the first time, so it stands to reason I won't be convinced this time either. I already said it could be a translation error. We will just have to wait and see.