Category Archives: Histogen

Harklinikken and other Hair News

A few days later than usual due to the major new developments that I had to discuss in my prior two posts.

Harklinikken

— Denmark’s Harklinikken and its natural hair growth products are definitely not a miracle cure for hair loss. However, it seems like it may have some benefits per the NY Times. And the company has major expansion plans for the US market. Their product is derived from cow’s milk and various plants. Among Harklinikken’s major proponents is Ricki Lake.

— I covered Dr. Lu Le and his team’s groundbreaking discovery related to the biological processes behind both hair loss and grey hair in a post from May of this year. Now their local Dallas newspaper has much more detailed coverage of Dr. Le and his work. An interesting read.

— The first ever International Hair Restoration Conference was held in Vancouver, Canada in April 2017. During the past two months, the organizer has been releasing some interesting videos from the conference, including from the reclusive Dr. Kevin McElwee (Replicel) and Dr. Ray Woods (FUE hair transplant pioneer). Note that Dr. McElwee wrote most of the material on keratin.com (and he used to run the now nonexistent hair loss forums on that site). Moreover, he is a co-author of an interesting new paper on hair loss  titled “Experimental and early investigational drugs for androgenetic alopecia“.

— Histogen’s proprietary “multipotent cell conditioned media” will be marketed by leading global cosmetics concern Allergan via the Regenica line of product. Although not related to Histogen’s main Hair Stimulating Complex (HSC) hair loss product, it is worth noting that Allergan has several hair loss products (Bimatoprost and Setipiprant) that it is also developing. Perhaps they could purchase the rights to the HSC product in the future too?

Very interesting study from Iran. Conclusion: “Our data showed that injection of a combination of adult human cultured dermal papilla and epithelial cells could induce hair growth in nude mice”.

And now on to medical items of interest:

US scientists make genetically modified embryo. First ever case in the US.

Breakthrough device heals organs via touch. Extremely hard to believe, but the research comes from a reputable university. The device delivers new DNA or RNA into living skin cells in order to change their function. Video here.

— Scientists successfully make old human cells younger via lengthening telomeres.

— Some retinas are indestructible and do not need regeneration:

Trump Hair Eclipse

Harvesting the blood of the young.

New high resolution 3D printing of live tissues.

Blood test detects Alzheimer’s plaques in brain.

Stem cell brain implants could extend lifespan 10-15 percent.

3D printing revolutionizing plastic surgery.

The Arrival of Multinationals and China in the Hair Loss World

For the past two decades, researchers and companies involved in the search for a hair loss cure have always been hindered by lack of sufficient funding. Promising avenues of research (e.g., Aderans and Intercytex) have had to be abandoned due to funding problems.

Investors are always looking for quick returns and do not have the patience to wait for 5-10 years. Especially for oftentimes speculative animal model based research to turn into successful commercial product releases for use in humans. Many world leading hair loss research scientists have complained about the lack of funding in interviews as well as on Twitter.

Multi-Billion Dollar Companies Arrive to the Hair Loss World

However, this situation is now changing rapidly. Multi-billion dollar multinational companies are entering the hair loss world (usually for the first time ever) via partnerships and/or acquisitions of existing small companies that are already primarily focused in the hair loss sector. Below I list in chronological order some recent examples of multi-billion dollar corporations entering the hair loss world either 1) directly; or 2) via acquisitions; or 3) via partnerships:

  • In August 2016, Histogen (US) announced that it had raised $6 million in funding from Pineworld Capital, an affiliate of Huapont Life Sciences (China). And a month later in September 2016, Histogen just updated us on the details of this China-specific collaboration. “Pineworld will focus on clinical development, registration, marketing and sales of the Hair Stimulating Complex (HSC) injectable hair growth treatment in China. Under the terms of the license, Histogen will receive milestone payments, a transfer price on the product, and escalating royalties on future sales.” Huapont Life Sciences (SHE:002004) currently has a market cap of $2.9 billion when converted from Yuan.
  • In the most important hair loss related news this year, in July 2016, Japanese electronics giant Kyocera announced that it was entering the hair regeneration market via a collaboration with the Japanese government-affiliated RIKEN Institute/Dr. Takashi Tsuji and Organ Technologies (Japan). As of today Kyocera (KYOCY) had a market cap of $18 billion.
  • In June 2015, Allergan (Ireland/US) acquired US-based Kythera Biopharmaceuticals (along with its Setipiprant prostaglandin D2 antagonist product). Allergan (AGN) currently has a market cap of $94 billion.Update: In 2019, Allergan was acquired by biopharmaceutical company AbbVie.
  • In May 2013, Shiseido (Japan) announced a technology transfer and collaboration agreement with Replicel (Canada). Shiseido is the world’s fifth largest cosmetics producer per wikipedia with a current market cap (TYO:4911) of $10.4 billion when converted from Yen.
  • Last but not least is privately-held Samumed, which is very optimistically valued at $12 billion. I am not sure of precisely when Samumed entered the hair loss world, but the company started clinical trials in Australia in early 2013.
  • Note: Honorary mention to Aclaris Therapeutics, which has a market cap of $540 million. The company entered the hair loss world in March 2016 with the acquisition of Vixen Pharmaceuticals.

China and Hair Loss Cure Research

While Histogen’s entry into China via Pineworld Capital/Huapont Life Sciences is not a direct testament to domestic hair loss research capabilities in China, at the moment I will take anything! Hopefully this will start a new trend in China just like we have witnessed in the US and Japan in the past decade, with hair loss research proliferating at numerous centers across those countries virtually every year.

Perhaps the most surprising thing on this blog in my three plus years of writing has been the lack of anything substantial happening in China. It is the world’s most populous country and the world’s second largest national economy after the US. I have covered very few Chinese hair loss researchers such as Dr. Zhi-Qi Hu and Dr. Chunyu Han.

Mr. Liu Xuewu obviously does not count as a professional researcher, but I will mention him again in the hopes that he comes out of retirement some day soon.

Considering that the Chinese were the first at genetically modifying human embryos in 2015, it is surprising that they have not fast tracked any type of hair regrowth and cell based treatment programs. Or maybe they have and we just do not know?