Category Archives: Aclaris Therapeutics

Aclaris Therapeutics, Decernotinib

Decernotinib

184 Comments

I have covered janus kinase inhibitors (JAK) in numerous posts on this blog in the past. They were by far the biggest news story in the hair loss world in 2014 due to several groundbreaking studies that showed that using oral JAK inhibitors ruxolitinib or tocafitinib cured alopecia areata (AA), psoriasis and vitiligo in many patients. However, less than 5 percent of hair loss sufferers have alopecia areata (an autoimmune disease), with the vast majority having androgenetic alopecia (AGA) instead.

At the time, the famous hair loss researcher Dr. Angela Christiano maintained that JAK inhibitors could also work on AGA. This statement was later expanded and it was postulated that only “selective topical covalently bound JAK 3 inhibitors” could work, while oral ones would probably not work.

Moreover, of the two main currently FDA approved JAK inhibitors: 1) ruxolitinib only inhibits JAK 1 and JAK 2; and 2) while tofacitinib inhibits both JAK 1 and JAK 3, some suggest that its impact on JAK 3 is not very significant (or especially “selective”).

Aclaris Therapeutics to Test Decernotinib on AGA Patients

Today morning, I got a press release e-mail from Aclaris (which holds all the patents for JAK inhibitors and hair loss disorders) linking to an article titled: “Aclaris Therapeutics Announces Notice of Allowance for Two U.S. Patent Applications Covering Baricitnib and Decernotinib, Respectively, for Hair Loss Disorders“.

Several readers also posted other links about this news or e-mailed me, and of course some mentioned “nasa_rs”, a former NASA employee who comments on this blog all the time. If I had to summarize, most of “nasa_rs”‘ comments are in the form of “JAK inhibitors will cure hair loss or its all over.” But once in a while he also posts something extremely unique and useful.

The most interesting part of Aclaris’ press release is that they finally named the selective JAK 3 inhibitor that they will probably use to test on AGA patients when they start clinical trials. This particular JAK inhibitor is called decernotinib (VX-509), and it is a highly selective JAK 3 inhibitor. In Aclaris’ latest press release, the below pasted sentence is the key one (with the “respectively” implying the AA–>baricitinib and AGA–>decenotinib relationships):

The claims of these newly allowed patent applications cover methods of inducing hair growth and treating various hair loss disorders, including alopecia areata and androgenetic alopecia, by administering baricitinib or decernotinib, respectively.

Interestingly, decernotinib has no separate wikipedia entry at present (unlike most of the other “-tinibs” out there). The wikipedia entry on JAK inhibitors lists all the FDA approved JAK inhibitors that we have discussed as well as numerous others currently in clinical trials.

Aclaris Therapeutics, Regenix, Samumed

Regenix and Matthew McConaughey’s Hair Regrowth

130 Comments

Regenix and Matthew McConaughey

— Over the years, there have been numerous rumors on hair loss forums that actor Matthew McConaughey has had hair transplants. However, the actor in the past credited a product called Regenix for his great hair. Mr. McConaughey recently went on the “Live with Kelly” show in the US and credited Regenix yet again with a great review. I have no idea about the ingredients of Regenix since they are proprietary. The manufacturer claims they are all-natural. More on this story here.

— Aclaris Therapeutics’ latest webcast presentation occurred today at the Leerink Partners 6th Annual Global Healthcare Conference. The company’s CEO further elaborated on why they are so optimistic about “highly selective covalently bound JAK 3 inhibitors” helping patients with male pattern hair loss. More importantly, the CEO emphasized on treating female hair loss and how that is even more distressing than male hair loss. You can listen to the whole presentation after registration, and also see the 42 slides in there. For once, someone asked a specific question about covalently bound JAK 3 inhibitors and male pattern hair loss. The most interesting quotes from the CEO:

“Most importantly, androgenic alopecia. Even though that’s traditionally not thought of as an inflammatory process, what they were able to find is that the JAK inhibitors were targeting the stem cell compartment in the hair follicle bulge and actually prolonging and inducing anagen”.

“Being covalently bound…its got a much better shot of not being as promiscous as the other JAK inhibitors”.

— Renowned Singapore based venture capitalist Finian Tan is a major investor in Samumed. I did not realize that he made the decision to invest in the company so suddenly. In his own words: “Only twice in my life I have bet so big on day one”. Poker champion and Samumed CEO Dr. Osman Kibar clearly has some hypnotic powers.

— More developments in finding the genes behind hair loss and baldness. On this blog I have covered several other recent such developments.

— On Hairsite, there is a great question and answer session with Dr. Paul Kemp of HairClone. Dr. Kemp also responded on here a few months ago.

— In the past year, I have posted news about various doctors offering an adipose (fat) cell plus platelet-rich plasma (PRP) combo treatment for hair loss. It seems like this treatment was part of a US based clinical trial. A new article on this subject pointed me towards the main page for the actual website of the trials. They call it STRAAND , which stands for “Stromal Tissue Cell-enriched treatment of Androgenic Alopecia via Novel Deployment”. So far, six doctors are participating. However, unlike in other trials, it seems like patients are responsible for their own expenses.

— A small sample size new study from Italy on non-activated versus activated PRP and the impact of different PRP collection devices on the final result. Dr. Cole from the US is a co-author.

— Replicel CEO Lee Buckler writes his first article for the Huffington Post: “Will 2017 be the year of Cell Therapies?“.

And now on to medical items of interest:

— US patent office hands win in CRISPR battle to Broad Institute and Dr. Feng Zhang.

— Human gene editing receives US science panels support. If you have trouble accessing the site, another take here. One day later, a warning from ethicists.

— From the respected “The Economist” magazine: “Printed human body parts could soon be available for transplant“.

— The long quest to create artificial blood may soon be over.

— The tiny robots revolutionizing eye surgery.

— A lengthy article on Dr. Anthony Atala, with many photos

— First human-pig chimeras created.