Category Archives: Heather Christofk

Pelage Pharmaceuticals, Allergan, Heather Christofk, Rob Lowe, William Lowry

Lowry and Lowe

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In 2017, I covered some important groundbreaking hair loss research from UCLA, led by scientists William Lowry and Heather Christofk.

These researchers discovered two topical compounds (RCGD423) and (UK5099) to regrow hair. Both drugs, via different mechanisms, increase the production of lactate. This in turn activates hair follicle stem cells and leads to increased and quicker hair growth. Dr. Lowry’s patent here. Note that RCGD423, activates the JAK-STAT signaling pathway.

Dr. Lowry, Pelage Pharmaceuticals and UCLA

Update: January 2023 — Pelage Pharmaceuticals’ new site is live.

Earlier today, reader “PinotQ” posted an important update on progress regarding these compounds’ further development. The compounds and technology have been exclusively licensed by UCLA to Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a startup company founded by Dr. Christofk, Dr. Lowry and Dr. Michael Jung.

Moreover, 100 percent of the shares in Pelage will be purchased by Allergan (Ireland) per an agreement. I have covered pharmaceutical giant Allergan many times on this blog in the past, and they are heavily invested in various new hair growth product technologies.

Rob Lowe has Taken Finasteride for 30 Years. Via his veins.

Rob Lowe Hair Finasteride
Rob Lowe Thick Hair Due to Finasteride?

Actor Rob Lowe has been in the news this week after insulting Prince Williams’ hair loss. Mr. Lowe is 55 years old, and claims that at the first sign of hair loss 30 years ago, he stared taking a hair loss drug. Per the quote below, he took it intravenously via his veins! I assume he means finasteride injections.

Rob Lowe quote:

“The first glimmer that a single hair of mine was going to fall out, I was having that stuff mainlined into my (expletive) veins. And that’s what I did for the next 30 years.”

Prince William Hair Loss
Prince William Balding.

Almost everyone thinks that this drug that Rob Lowe took (and is maybe still taking) is Finasteride, usually given in the form of a pill. Donald Trump takes the same drug for his hair loss.

Dutasteride (Avodart) was not available 30 years ago (the younger Ashton Kutcher got lucky). I am not sure if it is a good idea to get Finasteride delivered through your veins, although Mr. Lowe has to this day maintained a very good head of hair and seems healthy.

Heather Christofk, William Lowry

Interview Questions for Dr. Heather Christofk and Dr. William Lowry

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A little over a month ago, a new groundbreaking study came out of UCLA that found that increasing lactate production in mice via the use of two different topical drugs led to increased hair growth both times (through hair stem cell activation). As I detailed in my post on that discovery, the two drugs are known as RCGD423 and UK5099. Both drugs act via entirely different mechanisms, and UCLA has filed separate patents for the use of each for hair growth purposes.

The scientists that led this research were Dr. Heather Christofk and Dr. William Lowry. Both run their own labs at UCLA, and the latter is listed as “post-doc” with the famous hair researcher Dr. Elaine Fuchs. Several weeks ago, a reader who wants to be known as “HLprevention” got in touch with Dr. Christofk, and then sent me her e-mail address and told me to get in touch with her. He thought that she would be willing to participate in an interview. I did as suggested, and Dr. Christofk has agreed to answer reader questions.

Please only post relevant questions, thoughts and concerns in this post, and continue to post unrelated comments in the last post.

UCLA has now been added to the list of research centers around the world working on a hair loss cure.