Monthly Archives: January 2019

Samumed, SM04554, Wnt/Beta-Catenin

Samumed’s Compound Structure

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I have covered Samumed and its SM04554 compound to treat hair loss dozens of times in the past. The company’s Phase 3 Trials end in 2020.

Samumed is aiming to treat numerous medical and cosmetic conditions via activating and/or modulating the Wnt signaling pathway. Of all those targeted conditions, androgenic alopecia is the furthest ahead and the only one that is currently in Phase 3 Trials:

Samumed Pipeline 2019
Samumed Pipeline: https://www.samumed.com/pipeline/default.aspx

Samumed Compound Structure

A few days ago, a reader named “Thomas” emailed me about a new Samumed patent (Publication date = November 22, 2018; Filing date = December 27, 2017).

Thomas pointed out something very interesting. For the first time ever, Samumed has published the chemical structure of its main Wnt/ß-catenin signaling compound. Right under the section titled “Abstract” in the above linked new patent.

Samumed Compound Molecule
Samumed’s Compound Chemical Structure.

Samumed has a decade-long online trail of numerous filed patents, with the vast majority of them including the names of their key scientists John Hood and Sunil Kumar. I have not tried to go through all of these online patent documents, especially those not focused on androgenetic alopecia (male pattern hair loss).

So I am not certain if the above chemical compound structure image is the first time that it has ever been released. It is also not clear if all of  Samumed’s products will be very close in structure to the above compound image. The company has published compound images in the past that look very different from the above (e.g., the one in here for cancer treatments; another in here for Indazole-3-carboxamides and their use as Wnt/β-catenin inhibitors and more).

It would be useful if readers (especially the Chemistry experts on here) provide relevant feedback to this post. For example:

  • What does this compound’s molecular structure mean and how is it unique from other compounds (Samumed ones and non-Samumed ones) that modulate Wnt/ß -catenin signaling?
  • How does this latest compound image differ from other related compound images that Samumed has published in the past?
  • If this really is the first time that this particular image has been released by Samumed, why so late in the process?
Allogeneic Hair Transplant, Immunosuppressants

Allogeneic Hair Transplant Success

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One of the most common questions that people suffering from hair loss ask is why one cannot perform a hair transplant from one person to another? i.e., an allogeneic hair transplant.

If this were possible, it would essentially be a hair loss cure. There would be no shortage of people with stellar hairlines that would be willing to donate a fraction or their hair to balding men and women for a decent price. My father would give me some of his for free.

Unfortunately, the biggest issue with person-to-person hair transplants is rejection of foreign material. The only way to overcome this problem would be via the recipient taking immunosuppressants for life, which is potentially very dangerous.

Allogeneic Hair Transplant Success: No Immunosuppressants

A few days ago, it was announced that researchers from Seoul National University Hospital (SNUH) had successfully conducted an allogeneic hair transplant without the use of immunosuppressants. The research team was led by Professor Kwon Oh-sang.

Professor Kwon Oh-sang
Allogeneic hair transplant researcher Dr. Kwon Oh-sang.

While this particular success involved 24 mice-to-mice hair transplants rather than person-to-person hair transplants, it is still absolutely groundbreaking.

Moreover, the mice immune systems were “humanized” via hematopoietic stem cell transplantation.

Nevertheless, this story was not covered by any newspapers or online publications in the western world. No idea why as some of them (especially the superficial Daily Mail) have excellent coverage of groundbreaking hair related stories.

Normal hair transplants as we know them are autologous. Meaning that a person has his own grafts moved from his donor site to his recipient site. Allogeneic hair transplants are an entirely different animal.

Remove the Dendritic Cells

In this latest South Korean research, the scientists overcame immune system rejection of donor hair by eliminating dendritic cells. The team used ultraviolet B radiation to remove all the donor dendritic cells that were present in the donor hair follicles.

Interestingly, the scientists point out that hair follicles are less likely to be rejected by the immune system than other organs such as the heart, kidney and so on. In this regard, hair follicles are a bit like the cornea in terms of immune privilege.

According to the team, hair follicles are independent organs present in the skin and have an “immune privilege” that is relatively free from immune rejection. As the brain and cornea also have this privilege, the team could reproduce the same state of hair follicles that existed in people’s bodies by removing the donor dendritic cells involved in direct antigen presentation.

According the Dr. Oh-sang, such an allogeneic hair transplant procedure will be challenging to apply in practice when it comes to humans. However, this discovery does create new potential applications that were not possible before.

I wonder if he plans to start experimenting with part-autologous and part-allogeneic hair transplant procedures in humans in the near future? Most likely, donors will be selected via Human Leukocyte Antigens (HLA) matching.

Also of Interest:

— First ever skull and scalp transplant.

— Face, organ, and limb transplants: and immunosuppressive drugs.