It seems like MalliaBioTech will now be known as Mallia Therapeutics (Germany). The company was officially founded in June 2023.
Update: July 11, 2023
Mallia Therapeutics Secures Seed Funding
Mallia Therapeutics (previously MalliaBioTech) finally has a website (h/t “Ben”). Moreover, the company just announced that it has raised seed funding. They now plan to raise Series A funding prior to beginning clinical trials.
The company is developing a soluble CD83 (sCD83) based topical treatment of hair loss.
This sCD83 has an immune-modulatory function and induces hair growth via a dual mode of action:
- It induces an anti-inflammatory environment around the hair follicles via regulatory T cells (Tregs). These interact with follicular stem cells and activate hair growth.
- It directly binds to follicular stem cells and induces the formation of new hair follicles. So sCD83 not only prevents hair loss and accelerates growth, but also induces the growth of new hair.
Moreover, this treatment will supposedly work for both androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and the less common alopecia areata (AA).
Key quote (slightly reworded):
“The company is led by world leading experts in the field of CD83, with more than 60 CD83-related publications and 20 years of relevant experience.”
November 4, 2021
A new biotech company in Germany named MalliaBioTech is working on a topical hair loss treatment based on the CD83 molecule. Thanks to “Marcus” and “James” for sending me several of the below links.
CD83 and Hair Loss
On October 27, the Friedrich-Alexander University (FAU) in Germany published an important page on their site titled:
“FAU project wins funding for remedies against hormone-related hair loss.”
An soluble CD83 based active ingredient newly developed at FAU leads to new hair growth. The FAU researchers from the Department of Immunomodulation and the Department of Dermatology at the University Hospital Erlangen received the m4 Award for this project on October 21, 2021.
So far, this CD83 (see gene card) based active ingredient has not shown any side effects in pre-clinical studies. The video of this work can be found in this article.
MalliaBioTech
The research team is led by Dr. Alexander Steinkasserer, who I e-mailed for more information. His co-researchers include Dr. Dmytro Royzman and Prof. Dr. Carola Berking. Their new company is called MalliaBioTech, and it received EUR 500,000 via the m4 Award. It is officially called the m4 Award from the state of Bavaria.
“The new product has the potential to conquer the large unfulfilled market of hair loss.”
In contrast to existing hair loss treatments Finasteride and Minoxidil, this topical treatment based on a soluble form of the CD83 molecule:
“Stimulated the formation of new hair follicles and thus induces new hair growth.”
While the current pre-clinical work is in mice and yet to enter human clinical trials, this research represents yet one more new method to tackle androgenetic alopecia. We read about at least five such major new hair loss cure related discoveries every year, so reader skepticism is warranted.
When I first heard about CD83 for hair growth, I assumed it would be for alopecia areata. This is due to the frequent use of the word “immune” in tandem with CD83. However, the new German research clearly indicates that this treatment will work for hormonal hair loss (aka male pattern baldness).