Category Archives: Samumed

Samumed, SM04554, Wnt/Beta-Catenin

Samumed’s Compound Structure

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I have covered Samumed and its SM04554 compound to treat hair loss dozens of times in the past. The company’s Phase 3 Trials end in 2020.

Samumed is aiming to treat numerous medical and cosmetic conditions via activating and/or modulating the Wnt signaling pathway. Of all those targeted conditions, androgenic alopecia is the furthest ahead and the only one that is currently in Phase 3 Trials:

Samumed Pipeline 2019
Samumed Pipeline: https://www.samumed.com/pipeline/default.aspx

Samumed Compound Structure

A few days ago, a reader named “Thomas” emailed me about a new Samumed patent (Publication date = November 22, 2018; Filing date = December 27, 2017).

Thomas pointed out something very interesting. For the first time ever, Samumed has published the chemical structure of its main Wnt/ß-catenin signaling compound. Right under the section titled “Abstract” in the above linked new patent.

Samumed Compound Molecule
Samumed’s Compound Chemical Structure.

Samumed has a decade-long online trail of numerous filed patents, with the vast majority of them including the names of their key scientists John Hood and Sunil Kumar. I have not tried to go through all of these online patent documents, especially those not focused on androgenetic alopecia (male pattern hair loss).

So I am not certain if the above chemical compound structure image is the first time that it has ever been released. It is also not clear if all of  Samumed’s products will be very close in structure to the above compound image. The company has published compound images in the past that look very different from the above (e.g., the one in here for cancer treatments; another in here for Indazole-3-carboxamides and their use as Wnt/β-catenin inhibitors and more).

It would be useful if readers (especially the Chemistry experts on here) provide relevant feedback to this post. For example:

  • What does this compound’s molecular structure mean and how is it unique from other compounds (Samumed ones and non-Samumed ones) that modulate Wnt/ß -catenin signaling?
  • How does this latest compound image differ from other related compound images that Samumed has published in the past?
  • If this really is the first time that this particular image has been released by Samumed, why so late in the process?
Follicum, FOL-005, Samumed

A Truly Outstanding Week in Hair

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As if my last post on Dr. Terskikh’s progress and new company was not enough, three other new developments occurred last week that were extremely encouraging.

Follicum Positive Phase IIa Results

“The clear effect we saw in the growth phase supports the hypothesis that FOL-005 can “awaken” dormant hair follicles.”

I have mentioned Sweden-based Follicum numerous times in the past (see all Follicum past posts). Of the 50 plus companies that I have covered on this blog in the past five years, Follicum has been the most professional in my opinion.

This week, the company announced Phase IIa trial results.

Also, CEO Jan Alenfall gave a much more detailed interview discussing these results.

The quote that I posted above in red is the best part of these results. So now we have yet more evidence that long-lost miniaturized “dead” hair can be reawakened.

There are some issues regarding appropriate dosage levels. Follicum plans to test higher dosages in the next phase of trials. In these Phase IIa results, the highest dose resulted in an 11% median increase in the number of hair follicles in growth phase.

Maintenance of existing hair and an 11% increase in new hair would be amazing considering that this FOL-005 product did not cause any side effects (all too common with Finasteride and Dutasteride). Here’s to hoping for even better results with higher doses.

Samumed Initates Phase 3 Trials

In its latest monthly newsletter, Samumed announced that they have commences Phase 3 clinical trials:

Samumed Phase 3 Trials

Not a big surprise considering my August 2018 post on Samumed’s pending Phase 3 trials. Wonder in which country they are holding these trials?

Dr. Takashi Tsuji Still Aiming for 2020

Thanks to “Winston” for finding this Japanese government website link update on Dr. Takashi Tsuji’s work. Dr. Tsuji is partnering with Kyocera, RIKEN and Organ Technologies, so those companies also need to be mentioned. Key quote:

“Regenerating hair follicles is the beginning of that road, and after preclinical and safety testing, our goal is to implement it by 2020. Starting by curing baldness, our intention is to develop an industry aimed at improving quality of life.”

I would want nothing more than an end to baldness and a cessation of my writing these posts after December 31st, 2020. Dr. Tsuji is my number 1 hope of making this happen. He has the requisite intelligence, ethics, drive, decades of research experience, corporate funding and government support.

Addendum: A few people posted comments or e-mailed me about new UK-based hair regeneration company btechlaboratories (since Fuji Maru from Japan covered this company recently). However, btechlabs currently has an insecure (non-https://) website with bad quality writing and layout. And their Twitter link goes to a host provider’s Twitter account. I would expect my readers to be a bit less gullible.