Yesterday, Replicel announced its financial results for the second quarter of 2014.

The main hair related items of interest were:

1. Shiseido’s new research center in Japan, already discussed on this blog before.
2. Replicel anticipating the start of Phase 2 trials for its RCH-01 hair regeneration technology in Germany in the fourth quarter of 2014.
3. Shiseido also starting Phase 2 trials in Japan in the fourth quarter of 2014.  I was surprised to read that Shiseido is the world’s fourth largest cosmetics company, further lending credibility to Replicel’s technology.

Note that on Replicel’s website, they still have a page where one can volunteer to sign up for their clinical trials provided one resides in Austria or Germany.  It seems like they are limiting enrollment to 160 male volunteers.

The company’s losses increased modestly compared to the same period last year, but there seem to be valid reasons for this as explained in their announcement. Nevertheless, the company’s stock price declined by over 7 percent today as of the time of writing this post.

Replicel (REPCF)’s 1-year daily stock price and volume traded (in 000 shares per day) charts from nasdaq.com:

According to a June 2014 report from Allied Analytics, the global regenerative medicine market is expected to grow from $16.4 billion in 2013 to $67.6 billion in 2020 — a stellar outlook.  Besides hair regeneration, Replicel is also involved in tendon regeneration (RCT-01) and skin regeneration (RCS-01) technologies.  The company has stated that its tendon regeneration product is its most important focus, while its skin regeneration product is still in an early research phase of development.

Considering that Replicel uses autologous (one’s own) cells in the regeneration process, the chances of any kind of serious side effects seem minimal.  This has favorable implications for the company passing safety requirements during Phase 2 trials.

It is worth following Replicel’s Facebook page and Replicel’s Twitter feed for more frequent updates.

Japan’s Shiseido will open a new hair regeneration related facility in Japan on May 1, 2014 in the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster.

Shiseido New Hair Regeneration Center

More details from the company’s press release.

The company plans to open the Shiseido Cell-Processing and Expansion Center (SPEC) on May 1, 2014. The center will be located in the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster in Kobe, Japan. It will
centralize research and development in regards to hair regenerative medicine, with an end goal toward commercialization.

Shiseido is now also using Canada based Replicel’s RCH-01 dermal sheath cup cell related technology. See: Replicel and Shiseido complete collaboration and technology transfer.

The Japanese government has in the past year made major announcements regarding its support and encouragement of stem cell related research via favorable laws and funding. It will therefore not be surprising if the first hair cloning or hair multiplication type cure comes from that country.

It should be remembered that Japanese car companies and electronics companies significantly improved upon western inventions in those fields. So it would be fitting if a Japanese hair regeneration company significantly improved upon a Western based hair regeneration technology too.

Company History

Having said that, it should also be noted that Shiseido also has its own highly experienced team of hair loss research scientists. And a very lengthy history in the hair loss sector.

• Shiseido was founded in 1872 as Japan;s first Western style pharmacy.
• In 1898, the company launched “Euthrixine Hanatsubaki Perfume”.
• In 1915, the hair tonic solution “Flowline” was developed by the company’s scientists.
• In 1982, “Medicated Flowline” was released.
• In 2005, Shiseido released “Medicated Adenogen,” which contained adenosine, a bio-related component, as an active
  ingredient.
• Since its release in 2021, the company has sold over 2.3 million units of “The Haircare Adenovital Scalp Essence” throughout Asia.