Follicum, FOL-005, Samumed

A Truly Outstanding Week in Hair

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As if my last post on Dr. Terskikh’s progress and new company was not enough, three other new developments occurred last week that were extremely encouraging.

Follicum Positive Phase IIa Results

“The clear effect we saw in the growth phase supports the hypothesis that FOL-005 can “awaken” dormant hair follicles.”

I have mentioned Sweden-based Follicum numerous times in the past (see all Follicum past posts). Of the 50 plus companies that I have covered on this blog in the past five years, Follicum has been the most professional in my opinion.

This week, the company announced Phase IIa trial results.

Also, CEO Jan Alenfall gave a much more detailed interview discussing these results.

The quote that I posted above in red is the best part of these results. So now we have yet more evidence that long-lost miniaturized “dead” hair can be reawakened.

There are some issues regarding appropriate dosage levels. Follicum plans to test higher dosages in the next phase of trials. In these Phase IIa results, the highest dose resulted in an 11% median increase in the number of hair follicles in growth phase.

Maintenance of existing hair and an 11% increase in new hair would be amazing considering that this FOL-005 product did not cause any side effects (all too common with Finasteride and Dutasteride). Here’s to hoping for even better results with higher doses.

Samumed Initates Phase 3 Trials

In its latest monthly newsletter, Samumed announced that they have commences Phase 3 clinical trials:

Samumed Phase 3 Trials

Not a big surprise considering my August 2018 post on Samumed’s pending Phase 3 trials. Wonder in which country they are holding these trials?

Dr. Takashi Tsuji Still Aiming for 2020

Thanks to “Winston” for finding this Japanese government website link update on Dr. Takashi Tsuji’s work. Dr. Tsuji is partnering with Kyocera, RIKEN and Organ Technologies, so those companies also need to be mentioned. Key quote:

“Regenerating hair follicles is the beginning of that road, and after preclinical and safety testing, our goal is to implement it by 2020. Starting by curing baldness, our intention is to develop an industry aimed at improving quality of life.”

I would want nothing more than an end to baldness and a cessation of my writing these posts after December 31st, 2020. Dr. Tsuji is my number 1 hope of making this happen. He has the requisite intelligence, ethics, drive, decades of research experience, corporate funding and government support.

Addendum: A few people posted comments or e-mailed me about new UK-based hair regeneration company btechlaboratories (since Fuji Maru from Japan covered this company recently). However, btechlabs currently has an insecure (non-https://) website with bad quality writing and layout. And their Twitter link goes to a host provider’s Twitter account. I would expect my readers to be a bit less gullible.

 

Stemson Therapeutics, Alexey Terskikh

Alexey Terskikh and Stemson Therapeutics

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I first covered the groundbreaking work of Sanford Burnham’s Dr. Alexey Terskikh in 2015. Two years later, I interviewed Dr. Terskikh with the help of reader questions. It was a lengthy and highly interesting question and answer session. The doctor’s main issue at the time was funding.

A few months ago, Dr. Teskikh provided an excellent update on his hair loss research. Key quote from that interview:

“Instead of embryonic stem cells, which are difficult to obtain, our method now uses induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSC), which are derived from a simple blood draw or skin sample. iPSCs allow us to create an unlimited supply of cells to grow hair. Not having enough hair is one reason current transplants don’t work, so this is a critical advance….We’ve found a solution—3D biodegradable scaffolds—and partnered with leading scientists in the field to advance our project. The scaffold allows us to control the number of cells transplanted, their direction and where they are placed.”

Dr. Terskikh also said that as of 2018, he had formed a company to move this research and technology forward. He did not name the company or the “great team” of experts that he had assembled.

Stemson Therapeutics

Earlier today, a reader by the name of “Gabriel” sent me a Tweet (now removed, but I pasted the content below) from three weeks ago. It was missed by most people.

“Great breakfast meeting at @EstanciaLaJolla with hair restoration surgery colleague Dr Alan Bauman from Boca Raton. Excited to be the medical directors for Stemson Therapeutics, a new biotech company here in La Jolla developing groundbreaking permanent solutions for hair loss.”

— Dr. Richard Chaffoo

No mention of Dr. Alexey Terskikh in there, but….

It seems like Stemson Therapeutics LLC was registered in California in 2017 by Dr. Terskikh! Also, Dr. Terskikh is based in La Jolla (San Diego), and the Tweet above also mentions La Jolla.

Note that there is also a Stemson Therapeutics Corporation that is involved in the hair growth sector.

This looks like excellent news, even if it may take a few years before fruition.

Unless Trump issues an executive order that Phase 2 and Phase 3 trials are unnecessary :-)

Although, in this case, if the biological material and lab processes are entirely autologous… maybe portions of human trials can be rushed or skipped?