Follicle Thought
March 4, 2020
Update on J Hewitt SHT Trial
So, I’ve heard from J Hewitt CEO Jon Knight today who reached out to me by email after reading some of the comments here.
He too, like everyone else is disappointed by the disruption of the projected trial timeline. But, he’s still pursuing the goal of a SHT trial in Japan and wanted me to reiterate a few things here.
For starters. most people are unaware that Jon Knight/J Hewitt literally invented PRP/Vampire Filler as an aesthetic treatment in Japan in 2005, this was verified in a court case which took place in 2019 involving two other British companies. Knight wanted to emphasize this in response to particular comments which were undermining the caliber of his company. To be fair, that treatment has now created billions of dollars in the aesthetic medicine industry. Not everyone has that on their resume.
Knight also told me that early on he had interest from 3 Cell Processing Center companies to do the trial, so, naturally he did not feel he was being too optimistic with a projected December trial date. He actually thought September was possible if not for the back-and-forth legal discussions.
Knight also tells me that he feels some companies in Japan have turned him down because they did not want to be seen as helping a competitor to the big local cosmetic companies. Something to think about. I’ve mentioned it previously, but J Hewitt is a private company, is not stock listed, and literally gains no financial value for making announcements regarding the trial.
As for current status, I can say Knight is doing his best to get an SHT trial going. I think for now it’s best to leave it at that and see what comes. Interestingly, he also mentioned that he is paying attention to what Histogen is doing and thinks some good things can come from their recent business development and their new human collagen injectable. I’m hoping to get more commentary from him about that soon.
My take: I still appreciate the fact that J Hewitt has taken an initiative to potentially bring a next-gen hair growth therapy to market. I’ll continue rooting for them as long as they’re in the game. Understanding the situation that Knight was in, it makes sense to me and I think everyone understands that sometimes ‘sure things’ can unexpectedly change. I won’t blame him for that, we’re all human. I don’t believe in ridiculing someone when things aren’t going great and then smiling in their face tomorrow if they have good news for me. I think it’s also worth stating that after many years of the candidate therapy existing J Hewitt was the first company who finally decided to even give TissUse/SHT a chance. Every other pharma company and major investment firm in Europe (and worldwide) passed it up before Hewitt obtained a license. The trial that is being pursued could cost around $50k-$100k per trial subject! That’s pricey even for a 5 man trial and Knight is pursuing this with his own company’s money. I respect it. Here’s to hoping we get some good news on this subject soon.
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Seems like SHISEIDO has so much faith to stop cell company’s working with J hewitt