I first covered UK based HairClone in 2016 in this very post. The original article is at the very bottom. Later in 2016, I interviewed the company’s accomplished CEO Dr. Paul Kemp several times. Also see his 2023 e-mail to me midway through this post.
Note that Mr. Kemp was previously CEO of Intercytex and has decades of experience in the regenerative medicine and hair space. I wrote another post on HairClone’s hair follicle banking service in 2019 and updated it in 2021. Thereafter, I have been updating this post again instead of creating new ones.
Most of us are no longer interested in updates about the follicle banking services. Instead, we eagerly await the day when HairClone finally begins its delayed dermal papilla cell expansion and implantation hair multiplication process. They now seem to prefer calling it hair rejuvenation (and hair rebuilding), which makes the company name even more of a misnomer. In any case, the last sentence in the below screenshot from their updated website is encouraging.
HairClone Updates in 2024
HairClone Medical Director Dr. Bessam Farjo is featured in the March 2024 issue of Tatler Magazine. This publication is a leading guide for the UK beauty and cosmetics sector. Key quote:
“Although dermal papilla cell injections are not yet available, HairClone is close to clinical testing of this innovative approach.”
Reaffirmed in the article, HairClone has developed the technology to multiply human hair follicle dermal papilla cells from thousands into millions of cells. The company aims to inject these cells into thinning areas of the scalp in order to “rebuild and rejuvenate” miniaturising hairs. The follicle banking procedure entails the surgical removal of 100-120 hair follicles, which are then cryopreserved at -196ºC.
Also of interest, HairClone recently hired Willow Abbott as a research scientist. More information about the University of Birmingham graduate can be found on Linkedin.
HairClone in Guardian and New Scientist
Update: October 16, 2023
- I missed this interesting update from HairClone in Guardian on October 1 (h/t “Ben”). Around 200 patients have banked their hair follicles with the company so far. Key quote:
“The company is in the process of establishing quality controls that will allow it to manufacture cells to clinical standards. At that point (the company is hoping that will be within the next 12-18 months) doctors will be able to offer it on an experimental basis to select patients.”
So the end of 2024 is a best case scenario. Based on past delays, I am changing the wording in the title of this post to 2025.
- Also of note, HairClone was also covered in New Scientist Magazine on September 26, 2023. It is paywalled, but a summary can be read here. Perhaps they really are getting very serious about the time frame and hence all the publicity.
Update: March 9, 2023
Last week, one of our readers mentioned that HairClone had updated its website. I contacted Dr. Kemp and he confirmed that the refreshed site was launched on February 27th, 2023. And they also have a new logo. Moreover, the company plans to start its delayed cell expansion service no later than 2024.
HairClone to Start Cell Expansion Service by 2024
In my prior update from 2021, I mentioned HairClone’s goal of commencing its cell expansion service in 2022. However, this was delayed in the aftermath of Covid and fundraising related issues. Several days ago, Dr. Paul Kemp sent me an update and I am pasting his e-mail below:
==================================================
“Sorry for not replying sooner but I have just returned from annual leave. Yes we have freshened up the website and created a new logo that was inspired by our goal of rebuilding miniaturizing hair follicles. It was launched Feb 27th.
Our banking service continues to increase and we now have had 3 years of successive growth. We have also shown that our cryopreservation technology besides preserving the dermal papilla cells (that we will use in the treatment we are developing), is also able to cryopreserve the other cell types. This includes melanocytes, epithelial cells and bulge stem cells which could be used in other regenerative medicine therapies.
Though we are focusing solely on androgenic alopecia at this time, the follicles we are banking remain the property of the patients so this is a valuable way that patients could store considerable numbers of various cell types in a simple outpatient surgical procedure.
As always, we are re-investing revenues from banking to advance the therapy but are still limited by our ability to bring our technology to the clinic by our funding of the GMP manufacturing process needed to use the DP cells in the clinic.
We have developed an effective and reproducible system to increase the number of DP cells over 1,000 fold and have been able to carry out most of the technical transfer stages of this process to a licensed contract manufacturing facility. But we need additional funds in order to complete this technical transfer and enable the manufacturing facility to produce cells for clinical use.
We are looking to increase the number of Banking Associate Clinics that we work with both in the Americas as well as Europe and Asia and we are working to raise new equity funding in 2023. Our aim is to obtain the funds needed and start offering our cell expansion service no later than 2024.”
Update: October 15, 2021
I always assumed that HairClone’s actual hair cloning or hair multiplication procedure was still years away. They have yet to even start human clinical trials. However, when it comes to autologous hair cell multiplication and transplantation, the UK has less stringent guidelines when it comes to testing in humans. Clinicians can offer unlicensed procedures prior to clinical trials. Japan also has some similar favorable regulations.
What a great surprise to then find this encouraging new below interview of Dr. Paul Kemp. He is one of the keynote speakers at the upcoming ISHRS 2021 conference. His presentation will be titled:
“The Evolution of the Promise of Hair Cloning: How Hair Cell Cloning will Fit Into Your Practice.”
HairClone will offer its cell expansion hair multiplication services on a select basis in certain clinics in the UK starting in early 2022. Dr. Kemp has consulted with regulators and they are very supportive of this step. It is a way to ensure that future expensive and lengthy clinical trials have a much greater chance of success.
Also, Paul Kemp says the following at 15:50 in the below video:
“What we are planning to do early next year is offer a cell expansion service.”
September 8, 2016
During the past few months, there have been a few new companies entering the hair regeneration sector. Today, I learnt about yet another new entrant into the field named HairClone that warranted its own post. As yet, I do not consider HairClone anywhere near as important as the established entities such as the RIKEN/Kyocera/Tsuji partnership (Japan); or the Shiseido/Replicel partnership (Japan).
HairClone
I will briefly analyze HairClone via its positives and negatives:
Positives
- The renowned and widely respected researcher Dr. Claire Higgins joined HairClone’s advisory board on August 30th, 2016.
- HairClone will be hiring more scientific advisers besides Dr. Claire Higgins in the near future. Would be great if they tried to get Dr. Roland Lauster into the team.
- A recent Tweet suggests monthly update meetings with PhD students.
- HairClone has devised a unique and creative strategy to get funding that includes: crowdfunding; giving people who fund the company’s research preference when the actual treatment comes out; allowing investment in equity; offering leading hair transplant clinics around the world membership opportunities; and most interesting of all, hair follicle banking and storage.
Negatives
- By far the biggest negative is that this is still way too early in the game and who knows when trials will commence, and whether the company will succeed with its dermal papilla focused cloning technology in the first place. Or even if they manage to get sufficient funding.
- Related to the above, when Solomon interviewed Dr. Claire Higgins earlier this year, she generally sounded pessimistic about new treatments and said the following about cloning. Update: Solomon corrected me in the comments and said she was only talking about cell injections. But I think she sounded pessimistic about the hair cloning time-frame in the whole interview:
“I think the future (but it’s not in 4 years or 5 years away, it’s like in 20 years) is to promote direct conversion of fibroblasts into papillae. But something like this will take decades. We don’t know how to do that yet.”
I am hoping that Dr. Higgins will change her prediction to 10 years if her lab and research work gets significantly more resources as a result of HairClone. Thankfully, she said that she was not exactly sure about Dr. Tsuji’s work. Neither did she list Shiseido’s trials in Japan in her list of ongoing trial examples. So maybe she is just entirely focused on her own work and not following others too much?
Twenty years would be too big a gamble to invest in a company such as HairClone. I hope Dr. Bessam Farjo has other ideas and is hoping for much faster completion of clinical trials. And hopefully he is not only relying on Dr. Higgins’ dermal papilla related work.
Saw you had tweeted them earlier. It seems to me like it’s a get rich quick thing…it’s the new snake oil. Convince desperate guys to stick money into crowd funding with the promise of quickest access to this cutting edge new treatment, though the people involved have had nothing much to do with the development of said technology. I call bullshit. They’ve read the hype surrounding Tsuji and envisaged how that might look in practice, wrote up some nice copy on it and now want your cash.
Looks pretty amateurish
Hey
“I think the future (but it’s not in 4 years or 5 years away, it’s like in 20 years) is to promote direct conversion of fibroblasts into papillae. But something like this will take decades. We don’t know how to do that yet.”
She said that about topical cream that is able to grow full head of hair on slick bald scalps.
Like topical Tsuji. Apply some topical and cells will promote new hair (like in fetus).
Thanks Solomon! Added a note about your point (see update note towards the bottom of the post).
Very good news. In addition to Dr. Claire Higgis and others are working with them is excellent news . Admin: Do not worry about this sentence: I think the future (but it ‘s not in 4 years or 5 years away , it’s like in 20 years) is to Promote direct conversion of fibroblasts into papillae . But something like this will take decades. We do not know yet how to do That . “Be patient . People are working very hard .
Excellent blog. And thanks to Follicle Thought. Before leaving these treatments “cure ” You will have other treatments before 2019 . Together we’re stronger.
Don’t you get it? There is a cure, just like cancer. They do not want the average man having access to such an anecdote. Think of the money generated through things like cancer and hairloss. There is an organization above anything else that controls what we have access to. Funny how you can get stem cell treatment for torn tendons in Switzerland but the ignorance in the Americas holds our ability to widen our minds. If we can create a hybrid out of two animals and create designer babies we sure as h*ll know how to stop hair from falling.
Signed… The wolf in the herd.
Bahh
@Benjamin Leschyshyn: Don’t make the classic mistake. Don’t compare pathologies please.
Sorry, do u know how I may delete my comment?
Paul Phoenix is absolutely right!! Together we are stronger!!! We are in 2016 damn it!! We need to form one cohesive non profit orginization and become so powerful that legit treatmemts are shelved within the next two years!!!! Let’s go people!!!! We have to be quasi bullies but hey it’s our hair on the line!!!!
Hey admin just noticed that on the samumed website they took down their SM phase 1 and phase 2 trials. This doesn’t look good :( I guess they believe 10% regrowth is not good enough or they just used hair loss treatment as advertising hype to boost awareness of their company.
https://www.samumed.com/publications/default.aspx
As for haircell, it looks like another company that will just go though a couple trials then stumble. I put more faith in tsuji.
Did the tsuji interview come our yet?
The CEO and one scientist from Tsuji’s team will answer questions over phone mid next week, with translation into English to follow a few days later
as long as people are doing research…they will likely look for a bigger company to buy out their research or add into some others cell companies line up of something “missing” from their own research. The more the better.
JAK inhibitors are our best solution to hair loss treatment to have all of our own hair back.
Not much longer for us. If you have no hope hang on its almost here.
Glad you are back NASA:-)
Replicel 2 more years (:
JAK!!!
I also get a good feeling when nasa comes around again
Nasa_rs why do you think there’s been no community trial of JAK-i? It’s already prescribed off-label, it can’t be that hard for someone to get their hands on it. Dozens of people are trying homebrew-Brotzu as we speak, what’s the holdup on JAKi?
I think the best statement for this is that they seem to be counting their chickens before they hatch.
Ps… NASA is back! Lol.
I am just waiting for more info on JAK inhibitor treatment. Not much longer to wait. For those with no hope hang on 2016 has been a good year but 2017 is the year we have a researched treatment and we just wait sometime after that to buy the cream, solution.
Three years ago they said if you lost your hair you would NEVER get it back. But now we know the hair follicle is Complete just miniaturized. And now we are the cusp of getting it ALL back.
It is all going to happen fast. Few had cell phones 10 years ago now they are life for most people. Change happens fast.
Few had cell phones 10 years ago? Idk abut you but my Nokia was off the hook with my rhinestone face plate in 2006… Kidding of course. That was back in 2000.
Cheers
Hey if you are really FT, welcome!
I agree with Nasa. JAK inhibitors or brotzu look to me like the only things in the near future that MAY be able to help us. All these companies popping up with these hair cloning ideas just seems like a cash grab to me. They realize how big of a demand there is for a treatment or cure, and are jumping on the bandwagon to make a few bucks off us desperate baldies. I mean come on – crowdfunding now? They know there isn’t going to be any investors without some sort of proof this works, so they turn to us who they know will sink cash into any potential treatment just at the mere hope they may be onto something.
Histogen is their role model lol…
What is your agenda against Histogen? It’s pretty pathetic, if there was one persons posts we shouldn’t have to read it’s 99.9% yours.
I would honestly consider Histogen, £1k for 3 injections and the potential to have consistent effect for 2 years? That’s actually not far off the cost of doing Minox and Finasteride for 2 years straight.
I can see some companies look like they’re on snake oil treatments, but Histogen doesn’t seem to be one of them. The growth factors work…
He’s on some macho shit. One of those guys that likes to hear himself speak.
Thanks Breezy. We are all agree with you. Histogen will be a good treatment for MPB in 2017-2018.
I was kinda interested in histogen until they said hairs that regrow r not permanent. Sorry not worth spendin thousands every few years. We need a real permanent solution
@MD Hence the words treatment. Who is promising and delivering permanent new follicles so far? Nobody man, nobody.
I agree @Breezy like 1k or 2 whatever, 1-2 years of growth and than top up every 1-2 years is better than splattering crap on your head daily to maintain vellum hairs…or volunteer castration…
Has Histogen posted any actual photos yet of a man with a very promising transformation?.. where it’s at an angle where you can tell it’s the same guy?
@slick
Most of us don’t need “promising transformation.” We need a treatment that can halt hairloss and bring back some of our hair.
A one time set of injections that creates some growth and a complete halt of hairloss for 2-5 years is a game changer. Either you see it that way or you don’t. With that said… All of us on this forum would get the treatment if it were to come out today.
The treatment itself, working at its full potential, would give you 10 more years in which “promising transformation” would more likely be possible.
@ Curious .. thank you for telling me what I need.. I am bald already with FUT scars.. this website is about a cure, not a halt. If you want a halt, I know of some great products that have been available for decades.
Aclaris Therapeutics to present next Wednesday at the Morgan Stanley 2016 Healthcare Conference.
I remember Walker said something like, “Oral JAK inhibitors don’t work for AGA, but topical does.”
Someone needs to ask him how the **** he knows that without using it in humans with AGA. It can’t be an isolated tissue sample (otherwise they couldn’t specify oral vs. topical). The only thing that really fits is that they grafted bald AGA skin to some SCID mice, tested oral vs. topical on them, and noticed results only with topical JAK inhibitors. But until I see _one_ case report in humans, my expectations are low.
Admin have u seen danny roddi video on cO2 being the cure…interesting video on Youtube pls respond
Thanks had not seen that video, but have skimmed through a lot of his stuff and a number of people have asked me about him over the years. Maybe I should look into it in more detail.
Been following Roddy for a year, I think that’s why I had such good results from minox as posted on HRN. Kind of resetting energy metabolism with minox triggering refrowth. Would love to see a Q&A with him here or something, genuinely think his research could help a lot of guys on here.
Don’t have time to watch but what is the bottom line? What ideas or solutions does he offer?
” or they just used hair loss treatment as advertising hype to boost awareness of their company.” mjones
Finally you know the true….
The same is for histogen.
Yeah guys histogen will be good if it really exists.. I don’t even understand how you guys can be so blind.. She is just stalling… Any ways lol I don’t even want to argue.. If it comes and truly works I will be more than happy… All my hopes are on Brotzu for now…
this guy… First to complain but will be first in line.
https://www.linkedin.com/in/paul-kemp-61573014
http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1023676/Scientists-develop-baldness-cure-cloning-hair-growth-cells.html
Maybe you should take a look at this admin.
@friendlyneighborhood wow! Some big claims in 2008 :-) always be skeptical of a company that makes claims without showing actual photos of people with results (a.k.a. proof)
Jeez can’t believe it’s been 8 years since that article came out. I remember reading it and all the hype about intercytex. They went through phase 2 trials then vanished. Same thing with aderans and every other hair loss company. I’m shocked everyone ignored my comment about SM taking down there hair loss trials from their website . We should focus on that since they claimed to have said they would start larger trials for their hair loss drug. Would be nice to know what happened instead of focusing a scam companies Iike Haircell which hasn’t even started trials. Hopefully samumed is just updating their page to include phase 3 trials. That would be nice :) If this goes down the drain then I’m just seeing a repetitive pattern of all hyped up drugs failing at stage 2 for hairloss. It’s like they can’t get past it to phase 3.
Has histogen and sisheido officially commence phase 3 and phase 2 or are they still saying it’s happening soon?
So mjones it seems like you have been obsessed with the hair loss world for over 10 years since the time of Aderans and Intercytex? i.e., obsessed since your teenage years?
https://www.hairlosscure2020.com/lessons-from-aderans-and-intercytexs-hair-multiplication-failures/
And despite all the companies and products that you have seen failing for years you still waste your time at this? Why on earth would you think there will be a cure before 2030?
The funny thing is that by far the biggest failure ever is Dr. Cotsarelis (20 plus years of always promoting the coming cure or new breakthrough!!) and yet you are so desperate to get an appointment with him despite repeated rejections from his office. You seem to hero worship that guy.
FYI — Between the two accounts that you have used (probably due to using two different emails and computers) you have way more comments on this blog than anyone else including myself. If you had spent all this time in 10 years working on a cure in your kitchen, maybe Cotsarelis would now be worshiping you!
ouch …
apply water on burned area
Actually since I was 21. No cots never turned down an appointment with me admin. I had to cancel my appointment in July due to work related customer meetings that I couldn’t pass on.
You out of all people should know that a cure is not possible. Everyone with a business degree and an understanding of politics should know this. I’m not on these sights searching for the cure lol. I’m on here to seek advice from fellow peers like Phil Collins and NASA and Tom who had given me good advice on how to use current treatments and feedback on lllt. It’s good to see what others are using to help my hair situation until a better TREATMENT comes out that can stabilize loss and grow some hair back. I also have given many people on this site advice, especially some newbies on what to use since I have been very successful holding on to my hair with Propecia for 12 years.
As for cots I do believe he will bring us the next treatment. It takes at least 10 to 12 years to bring a treatment to market via fda protocols. If you do the math you can see he is on track with that time line since the start of Follica. The rest of the years he was doing research like Elaine fuchs, and Christiano.
As for me being obsessed, it’s not obsession buddy, it’s having a strong interest in a hair loss problem that I want to fix. BTW I’m not the one who created a website on hair loss. There is no need for you to mock me and call me crazy. If anything you should be happy I’m on your site and posting. I’m another hair loss sufferers who appreciates your hard work for bringing us information. I just don’t understand why you bust my balls so much.
mjones, I would have quit my job to get a chance to spend 5 minutes with Cotsarelis. He would cure me and I would then get a much better job… perhaps as a fashion model. Am very disappointed that you did not skip your work meetings and instead dumped the great Mr. Cotsarelis.
Haha…lol admin
Why hasn’t anyone of these guys who doesn’t think there will ever be a cure start thereisnocurecuzwellwesaid.com they could boast all day about how naive everyone else is on there then. Hell there could be point system you could bet on which company is gonna fail first and just stick to that site instead of nagging on other sites that are literally a watch tower for the cure.
H, I have thought the same thing many times:-)
Neal Walker of Aclaris Therapeutics will present at the Morgan Stanley 2016 Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, September 16th.
Hopefully we hear some positive news about JAK inhibitors.
It’s not a presentation on JAK inhibitors it’s about another one of their projects. However, HLT is gonna have a conference call with the entire team next week! Which is even better
@Red… I hope so… I’ve lowered my chances of jaks as a cure to 50/50 just based upon Dr. Christiano leaving to pursue a different method of cure. Also, I don’t have much faith that my long inactive follicles would spring to life again. Finally, if Aclaris had a cure for baldness on their hands and the potential to make vast sums of money, I just think we’d see a bit more aggressive movement around it.
Anyway, I hope my suspicions are proven wrong, and they somehow make the jak topicals affordable asap. They need to get this moving! !
hey long time viewer, first time commenter. Rivertown looks more promising than Brotzu but lets not get our hopes up to high despite all of their promises n pictures. thoughts admin?
Link removed as the same one was posted a few times before on this blog. My thoughts are in the below link (and Rivertown was also mentioned in another post of mine if you do a search via the top magnifying glass icon or via the categories menu on this blog):
https://www.hairlosscure2020.com/brief-items-of-interest-june-2016/
Company too new to read too much into it.
Hi admin. Do have any thoughts on sm? Do you speculate they are finished?
Hate to put all my eggs in one basket but Tsuji ya Tsuji… I like the guy because he’s not just doing this whole hair deal for us but to move later on to making full organs leading me to believe he’ll perfect this method first. I think he’s the guy to bring us a full head of hair. He may not just like all the others he could crash and burn but I feel like he’s the real deal.
Admin,
I read the interview and that quote about Higgins and 20 years, no where does it indicate she was referring to topical ..? So i dont know where solomon saw that? I would like to agree with Solomon but in the interview it does not indicate that she was referring to topical. To me she was referring to a cure/cloning? Pls respond. Thanks
Hi Matt I said “injection” and not”topical”….the last question in that interview has the word “injection” in it and I think that is what Solomon meant.
Hey admin, sorry if this is a bit off topic but going back to laser treatment, I was wondering what is in your opinion the best laser helmet? I’ve heard of theradome and irestore now and I used the hairmax laser comb (which requires tiring manual use, though I did see minor results). With a cure still seemingly a ways away, I’d like a drug- free way to hold on my my current hair as long as possible (or at least slow down its regression). So yeah, I’m strongly considering purchasing a laser helmet and wanted your and other’s opinions.
Hey Daniel I have never tried any of the helmets, but I assume the number of diodes and the light wavelength would be the two main criteria to look for.
Thank you. I think I might just suck it up and start using my laser comb a few times a week again. We’ll see.
Oh wow, intercytex claim though make me to doubt tsuji and shesiedo :/
Hace desde que tengo uso de razón que faltan cinco años para que salga una solución a este problema. Hasta que no vea algo concreto yo no creo nada de nada.
Hay varias companias que dicen que van a tener un tratamiento en 2018/2019. Paciencia young padawan.
I always read the conspiracy theories and they are absolutely wrong, I’ll say this as a researcher, working in this field.
The problem with AGA is that it is a genetic condition.
Genetic conditions are complex to solve because you are not dealing with an unicellular organism such as in diseases such as bacteria or RNA structures such as viruses, which are not even consider living organisms.
Genetic conditions are unique to each individual and highly complex, the same statements goes for cancer. Cancer as AGA, is specific for each person.
I will like to give an example to make this clear, before 20th century most people tooth would decay over time, causing them to fall. Some people are genetically predisposed to lose their teeth, if your genetic conditions did not allow for appropriate normalization that will protect them. The introduction of fluoride in toothpaste allowed for those who were genetically predisposed to suffer a demineralization, by providing 3 times a day with a product that could give them this ability.
The teeth problem is more easily solved, because an chemical element is able to solve the problem, however AGA is way more complex.
Advances in medicine make a more viable treatment for AGA, however this solutions are more likely to be within a 5 years time period, rather than within 2 years as some companies have claimed.
Further more this new treatments are not likely to solve all types of alopecias, rather they are targeted for mild forms of AGA.
So I will like to conclude, that there is a treatment in the near future, but it is around 5 years from now. That treatment may probably only solve the mild form of AGA, and finally there are companies who will take advantage of this whole situation, giving unrealistic expectations when they have no probability of finding a new treatment, but they are in the business of raising money. This companies affect the credibility of those companies such as Replicel-Shiseido, which are really at the cornerstone to give a complete solution, to some of the people that suffer AGA.
Who do you work for?
I also think we are closer to a treatment than a cure. It’s just hard to believe that we are 4 more years away from the cure, lol
On FT has anyone seen the before/after photo of the man and woman on follicle thought that used rivertowns RT1640? A 42 year old man w. Mpb had like complete regrowth of his crown that was in pretty bad shape. I may be really late in finding this out, but the page was only updated recently so I dont think so. Check it out. If these are the results then this is pretty much a cure…
I saw this as well. The only concerns for me are the lighting in the male picture. It’s significantly different. With that said though, there is no denying that the man got pretty modest regrowth regardless of lighting.
Rivertown also tied for “best in show” in the mid atlantic bio angels science competition, and their claims that 100% of their treated patients have received satisfactory results (many getting “complete regrowth”) are definitely intriguing.
Hair is definitely a bit longer and there is obviously a flash used in the first photo and no flash in the second.
Either way… that is growth after 3.5 months and is looking pretty good. I’m interested in seeing more.
Im not sure the lighting is significantly darker though. In one shot he has a large bald spot that the light clearly reflects off of. In the next there is no bald spot for any reflection. I’m not denying it is different, but I dont think its much darker. And its from the same angle which I like.
I’m not too concerned about the flash… but there definitely is one in the first photo – the centered hot spot – and the second photo is all flat lighting (no flash). We all know photography isn’t the hairloss industry’s strong suit.
It’s crazy how much a flash can fool people. My brother’s ex took a photo of the back of his head when they were camping 2 years ago at night (so it was the only light source)… and it legit looked like he had a bald spot. When I checked it and combed through his hair it was very obvious that he didn’t have one… still to this day he doesn’t have a bald spot but it freaked him out for sure. And no big surprise he broke up with his girlfriend.
I’m more interested in the data and protocol before any photos get me excited.
Yup was discussed here many times and HLT threads on it suggest mostly scepticism.
The lighting on the pictures is so different one can’t make any serious analysis. It smells like a scam
I would love to see hair transplants become a thing of the past!
Admin can you look into pilox and maybe do a similar raffle for a pilox/hairgene device?
There are pilox before/afters (probably 30+) over different forums. If you could compile them here, with some commentary, it would make a good post.
It would be even better with a raffle.
Hi Biggie I will email the company and see if they are interested in a raffle.
A cure is not possible within 4 years, there is no technology or knowledge available.
A cure will require to be able to modify the genetic structure of a patient, since AGA is a genetic condition that offers no possibility for physical modification such as orthodontics or rhinoplasty.
This type of treatment is called gene therapy.
I do not see medicine taking that leap in 4 years, when as of today there is not even a Gene Identification of what causes cells to become susceptible to DHT, and which is only the first step. The second step is being able to modify the DNA structure to change that susceptibility and the final step is being able to modify those genes on living organisms.
Today what resembles more to a cure are 2 different treatments: micro wounding, provided that the compounds are able to grow hair with DHT resistant characteristics and hair cloning, both of them offer the potential for an unlimited amount of new hair created or cloned.
Exactly ! Now tsuji claimed that he can clone hair and will be available in 2020. But wait, where is the proof of a result!?! He has a mouse result then there is no guarantee this will succeed. Look at intercytex and its big claim and even deciding about the price and was successful in human trail but then it vanished like nothing was happened. The conclusion is the future is blurred so don’t get too excited
They’ve already partnered up with Riken and Kyocera and publicly announced their plans idk if organizations like that screw around.
@Alb
You don’t need to figure out the complex genetic architecture to destroy cells’ sensitivity to DHT with gene therapy. All you would need to do, theoretically, is knock out AR in the scalp.
Anyway, speaking of complex genetic architecture…For those who haven’t seen it, there’s a big new GWAS preprint out that finds what looks like around 60-something loci associated with AGA: http://biorxiv.org/content/early/2016/08/31/072306
Cramming a few observations in…
AR is the most significant hit, and then there’s also SRD5A2 (5-alpha-reductase type II).
There are a lot of hits for components of the Wnt pathway — WNT10A, WNT3 or WNT6, LRP6, DKK2, LGR4, ZNRF3, RSPO2, and CTNNB1 (beta-catenin). There’s also a scaffold protein (a protein that regulates formation of complexes of other proteins) called IQGAP1, which can play a role in Wnt signaling, among many other things. There was a proteomics paper a few years ago that found IQGAP1 levels were higher in dermal papilla cells from bald scalp, and estrogen is known to downregulate IQGAP1 in hair follicles.
There are components of other pathways important in hair follicle formation and regulation — PDGFA and PLCG1 (PLC-gamma) in the PDGF (platelet-derived growth factor) pathway, with maybe FYN (a Src-like kinase) being involved in that pathway as well. AFAIK the PDGF ligand itself is only produced in epithelial cells of the hair follicle, while the PDGF receptor is only expressed in dermal papilla cells. FGF5 (another GWAS hit) is also expressed only in epithelial cells (as well as macrophages surrounding the hair follicle to a lesser extent) and binds to FGF receptors in the dermal papilla to initiate catagen. So there are some epithelial -> dermal interactions involved. That would also apply to Wnt as well — DPCs are dependent on epithelial Wnt ligands. RSPO2 is expressed only in dermal papilla cells, which suggests that the Wnt signaling that’s important in AGA may be dermal Wnt signaling rather than epithelial. The dermal papilla is also the site of crosstalk between AR and beta-catenin. One study found AR binding to beta-catenin was enhanced in DPCs from bald subjects.
There are at least a couple genes associated with embryonic pattern formation — PAX1 is a huge GWAS hit (and known already) and TBX15.
TWIST1 (near HDAC9) is overexpressed in AGA according to two separate microarray studies; TWIST1 knockout mice have a longer anagen phase and accelerated hair growth. TWIST2 is also there, and according to one microarray study is underexpressed in AGA. TWISTs have a somewhat redundant role, but are known to play a role in f.e. suppressing transcription of cytokine genes by NF-kB as part of a negative feedback loop (where NF-kB upregulates TWISTs). RUNX3 is another GWAS hit with known influence on hair growth, and RUNX3 is also known to interact with TWISTs.
TFAP2A (near OFCC1) may play a role in tissue remodeling in HF morphogenesis and at the start of each hair cycle…
Some of these are baffling though. :D For example, TCHH (trichohyalin, a hair structural protein) — how could _that_ be involved in AGA? And yet, TCHH has been identified in multiple GWAS studies on AGA. Also there are genes expressed specifically in melanocytes like PAX3 and IRF4 (associated with gray hair).
And there are a lot more that I haven’t mentioned than have mentioned lol.
Sorry if I did not explain my self correctly.
First of all I am optimistic toward the new hair loss treatments and like I said these treatments will solve AGA condition.
However these are not cures, because the underlying cause is in your genes. Your own follicles will not go through a permanent transformation allowing them to grow once treated with out the need of any further intervention. Rather they will be either artificially created -such as in hair cloning and with micro wounding-, they will be regenerated or induced to grow -such as in cell therapies like Replicel-, the mechanisms that make the hair vulnerable to DHT will be blocked -such as many of the treatments you mentioned- and more potent and no side effects anti-androgens will allow for hair follicles to receive the least amount of damage -such as in Breezula-.
This combination of new treatments will allow for people to maintain their hair through their life and grow or have transplanted cloned hair where they have lost their hair, but they will not be “cured”. If they stop treatment, all hair that has not been artificially created or implanted will be lost.
That is why I used the example of fluorine in toothpaste, because also in these cases persons who are predisposed to suffer from demineralization of their teeth are helped by fluorine, however if these population stop using fluorine their teeth will eventually decay and fall.
I bring this forward, because in the past a lot of projects failed, because they have a holistic approach toward AGA. Even though this approach sounds very promising, its almost impossible to solve a problem when you put it in a complex form, instead of breaking it in a series of smaller problems that are in fact addressable.
New treatments are more humble, and that is were they are achieving better results, because the old perspective placed unreachable objectives and boards sooner or later became disenchanted.
The problem is that there are some companies, that keep using this old ways, not because they believe in their potential, but to attract investors and this makes it difficult for those companies that actually have solid research.
I think you have a different definition of a cure then most people here. Most here including myself would call Tsuji’s work a cure because you can go in slick bald get the treatment and have DHT resistant follicles. No it doesn’t address the underlying genetic causes but does that even matter anymore if your new follicles are immune. You won’t need anti androgens or any other treatments after, you can go on with your life which makes it a cure in my eyes
Alb you make some great points in all your comments…however, perhaps your definition of cure is different from most people’s?
— If there is any medication (e.g., Dutasteride) that works for life on some people and causes them to stop losing hair, in my book its a cure for those people if they already have a decent head of hair and are able to maintain it.
— If they clone hair from the back of the scalp and it remains permanent once transplanted to the front, I would consider that a cure too even if its not your original frontal hair.
— Even any kind of treatment that needs to be repeated daily or annually is still a cure if it lets you always have a full head of hair.
— For some people, even a hair transplant is a cure if it last for decades and further existing hair loss can be prevented.
You are probably correct that a true definition of a cure is gene therapy or gene modification, and that will only come sooner if people start doing what Liz Parrish did this year and take things into their own hands in foreign countries….a bit too risky just to gain hair that way.
“This combination of new treatments will allow for people to maintain their hair through their life and grow or have transplanted cloned hair where they have lost their hair, but they will not be “cured”.” – Alb
Great comment Bob!
some you people are messed up…either think WAY too much about stuff, or say things like “there will be no cure in 4 years, because there is no knowledge or tech…” serious. F’ed up people. Why bother lurking let alone commenting if you know so much? fly.
Dont JAK inhibitors only work on AA tho?
They are only PROVEN to work on AA (via their immunosuppressant effects), but research indicates that JAK signaling is also responsible for preventing follicles from entering their growth phase, and therefore inhibition of JAK signaling allows miniaturized follicles to grow again. This isn’t proven in humans but it’s currently being tested in a study that I believe will conclude in 2017.
Admin,
Can you remind me what this means in a practical sense? I understand the bit about it being offered in select practices, but if I found a practice and I was willing to pay the £, what would actually happen? Would they offer injections that thicken existing hair? Or something else?
Is this reason to be excited? It seems to me like people will be able to act as guinea pigs, so I’m guessing some people will wait and see how it works on others?
Hi Paul, we will have to wait and see for more details. The autologous nature of this procedure makes it unlikely that there will be any major side effects, but I am no scientist. The below comment from the bottom of my 2016 post is apt:
https://www.hairlosscure2020.com/hairclones-ceo-paul-kemp-provides-us-some-feedback/
Admin,
Thanks for the quick response! Are you cautiously excited about this? Or do you think it will be another PRP?
Even if it offers some thickening, I’d take that as a big win for most hairloss sufferers.
My concern is that I don’t have the best donor area. Still plenty of hair and looks full-ish when grown out, but I’m hoping that won’t rule me out. I read something about them taking hairs and extracting the necessary stuff, so you’d assume you know exactly what they’re looking for before they inject it back into our scalps.
If this does indeed go ahead with an early 2022 release, I’m guessing it will mostly be done in London (or Newcastle), and I imagine many of us will wait to see how / if it works on people before we give it a try.
Fingers crossed that it’s not another PRP!
Their goals are definitely something far bigger than PRP :-) Remains to be seen if they make it through the clinical trials in less than 5 years. At least some people in the UK will get the treatment in 2022. A great strategy to perfect the treatment before trials.
What a pleasant surprise from Hairclone. I was a huge fan initially but lost my faith in the last 2 years. With the negative highlight of a 18.000 GBP student-grant for some research work regarding a tool and some cell-expansion-methods. This sum is ridiculous compared to the arms race which happened on the hair sector in the last years. Paul Kemp always denied big pharma sponsors I think – for whatever reason.
We will see, I remain skeptical. In theory this would be a very useful treatment especially for lower Norwoods, if not a cure.
As far as I can judge, HanBio is similar to this.
A side fact: the CSO of Hairclone is also CSO of a Swiss Company (“Cutiss“) which produces personalized skin transplants. As far as I can tell they are already in clinical use. So there‘s a lot of expertise around.
Ben, great find regarding Cutiss. They need to add in his already extensive bio:
https://hairclone.me/who-we-are/management-team/
I always thought Hairclone‘s team is a finest selection.
But they (for whatever reason) never wanted to go the VC-route – I think Paul Kemp also said that in the past. Probably bad experiences before. I don’t know if that’s the better way, rather not.
Hi Admin,
Hoping you won’t be irked at comments of this nature but I actually don’t fully grasp what this treatment entails: cell expansion, i.e. harvesting hells from extracted hair follicles, multiplying them, and reinjecting them into the scalp similar to the Shisheido method? Or is this something along the cloning lines? Any very broad clarification is most appreciated.
many thanks
Yes, but HairClone focuses on dermal papilla (DP) cells. Shiseido/Replicel focuses on dermal sheath cup (DSC) cells.
https://hairclone.me/about-us/our-treatment/
https://replicel.com/products/rch-01
News articles often term these technologies as both hair multiplication and hair cloning. I prefer HM, but sometimes use HC too (especially since HairClone is named as such).
If Dr. Kemp is answering questions, I am hopeful he can answer these questions:
1) My understanding, although I haven’t heard much new on the subject in the past 2 years, is that DP cells expanded in culture lost their potency. Has that changed?
2) Can you share the variables that you have identified or suspect might make a difference in efficacy, such as depth, type of suspension vehicle, concentration of DP cells, etc.?
3) Will the partner clinicians be sharing their results with each other to collectively speed the learning curve?
4) Can a patient have the punch biopsy done at a clinician partner in the US, and then fly to the UK for injection of the expanded cells?
5) Will you publish a list of approved clinician partners in the UK?
Thank You!
In case Dr. Kemp returns (I e-mailed him today after a long time), I would like to know if they are still using Dr. Claire Higgins as an advisor. And whether Dr. Higgins’ Lab’s latest findings are regularly being incorporated in this technology.
Can you specify Dr. Higgins latest findings? Did you write about it? Thx.
Hype bs scam Hairclone is c (except for the hair banking) they can’t fix high Norwoods!. Stemson needs to go to the UK and jump on this immediately! Take advantage of the UK laws! Hairclone is a treatment to make hair transplant doctors who partner with hairclone lots of money with little results to show. Stemson is the cure they need to get out of San Diego and go to the UK!
Stemson is 6+ years away they have alluded to the standard implication of trial projections already. They also stated they are very familiar with the geopolitical landscape of shortcuts while mentioning explicitly that they don’t fall into the autologous category so they are outside the scope of HC’s regulatory path.
How do they not fall under autologous? It says it on there website under the stemson “solution tab” the cells come from the patient.
I thought Stemson had already announced an investment in the UK? Does anyone know?
Yes, looks like it.
Release 2022
Price. ?
Proof ?
One down two to go
Very happy to see this
Intercytex returns! I appreciate all good news on progress, but my optimism will depend on proof and pictures when Intercytex players are involved (history of fundraising with zero results). At least they’re now saying next year and not “5 years”. That places an actual near-term consequence on today’s words.
Too good to be true?
Has Dr. Kemp given any indication about what kind of results can potentially be expected? Are we thinking a 10% increase in hair? 50%? Or is everything completely unknown?
He said as part of the UK Regulatory System, he can’t advertise or make medical claims.
You can trust the efficacy when Kemp himself sports a glorious full head of hair. Nothing more sus than a bald doc promoting a hair loss cure.
Original Intercytex work from 2009 FYI —
https://www.farjo.com/research/hair-cells-regeneration-intercytex/
I wish intercytex would have started new funding and company after they closed up shop back in 2010. Maybe they could have regrouped started hair clone and done this while they were still hot and had a treatment released by now. I’ve been in this game long enough to know what the outcome will be. I’m hoping for kintor now for 10 to 20% regrowth and maintenance. Throw in fue and call it a day:) everything is a speculation and wishful thinking.
It saw on stemsons website that the cells come from the patient nobody else. They said also on the website it has potential for Allogeneic. But stemson main focus is the patients own cells. So they can do what hairclone is doing.
Lol, I keep hearing the 5 years away since 1998 .
The 5 longest years of my life … in the meantime I live in another space-time dimension.
Hot news again. HanBio assigned a company which conducts clinical trials. Non-clinical to start in November, clinical in the first half of 2022.
So with Hairclone in 2022 there are already two cell trials confirmed for next year. Epibiotech and Tsuji could follow very soon! These are amazing news and we are finally there. Next year we will know if those long awaited treatments work or not. Let’s hope for the best!
Thanks Ben. The CRO that they will work with is here:
http://www.dtncro.com/ko/about/overview.php
“The first and only full-service CRO in Korea”.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Contract_research_organization
South Korea also has new fast-track regulations (like Japan and the UK), so hoping for the best.
It seems we both were wrong with HanBio (hopefully!)…who would have thought of them just a year ago – completely off the radar. Now they are ploughing through the timeline.
A fully autologous treatment like that only needs one human clinical trial in Korea which makes a commercialization in 2023 possible.
IF it is successful. The technology is still totally unproven.
What’s next? I am looking forward to the results of Kintor‘s PROTAC solution. Trial 1 should be finished this year. And of course Shiseido also this year. I hope they publish the results quickly.
Ben or anyone please, if stemson goes to South Korea would they only need to do one human trial?
Stemson will likely do some work in the UK. Maybe like HairClone in terms of testing the technology in humans at clinics prior to actual trials beginning.
https://www.fortuniscapital.co.uk/our-investments/stemson-therapeutics
So far: UK, Japan and South Korea have passed some favorable laws to speed up clinical trials. Hopefully more countries to follow.
@Openbook: I am really not the best expert, so take my expertise with a grain of salt; but Stemson uses IPSCs (induced pluripotent stemcells). These cells are not „natural“ and bred in a lab, but share the same functionality as embryonic stem cells, therefore are highly interesting for research.
The regulation of therapies using IPSCs is definitely more strict than „regular“ cell-therapies (HanBio, Hairclone, TissUse, Tsuji) – worldwide. „Regular“ cells of every kind are present in every body, therefore are considered more safe than IPSCs. In our case of hair it is mainly „dermal papillae cells“.
Epibiotech of South Korea is the only one besides Stemson that also uses IPSCs (from adipose-derived stemcells) and has to go through 3 trials in South Korea too with this technology, BUT regulations for IPSCs are still much easier in SK and Japan compared to US or Europe. UK I honestly don’t know.
@admin: have you ever heard of this trial of a SK-company called „Addpharma“? Phase 3 already completed…
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT04825561
Your take? Maybe as a CRO for a company we already know?
I found it, it’s low-dose Dutasteride.
Admin thanks for the reply. Is hansbio the company that couldn’t find a cell partner? Or am I thinking of another company?
Anyone know what the ballpark pricing would be for these cloning technologies treatments? Either pre or after clinical trials?
Hi Envy,
Hair multiplications procedures will be much cheaper than hair cloning, when the infrastructure is in place. The costs are primarily associated with culturing and storing of cells and follicles. I would suggest it would cost double that of a traditional first generation hair transplant (FUE and FUT) but also (hopefully) overcome a lot of hurdles such as limitation of donor hair.
That is just my opinion.
Everything in me just screams another scam when thinking about hairclone. Think about it, the deal is basically: You pay a 1000 bucks and you get a cell therapy which has literally been tested on 0 humans. Until this point, Dr. Paul Kemps first company failed and now he thinks it will work better with 3D culturing, but all that matters aren’t these theoretical predictions, but results on humans. But you gotta pay for this, while it has 0 evidence. Thats all we get in 2022 from this industry.
admin I have a question. If I decide to have a normal hair implant now, when hair cloning or hair multiplication comes out, would I have problems because I already limited my donation area?
Bac,
It depends what type of cloning or hair multiplication procedure you will be doing.
for example?
Hairclone‘s new website is online. As far as I see no news though.
https://hairclone.me/
Thanks, I have emailed Dr. Kemp.
“When will hair treatments be available?”
— HairClone aims to begin clinical work in the UK in 2024.
I think they mean clinical use and not clinical trials, thought not sure.
https://hairclone.me/about-us/hair-follicle-banking/
“HairClone’s approach of follicle rejuvenation treats hairs as they actively miniaturise and has the potential to prevent hair loss.
Strong clinical connections and special UK regulations enable HairClone to move directly into clinical application”
This was something I heard about a while back in hair transplant forums where on special circumstances you could get the Hair rejuvenation treatment in the UK. Though I have nothing to back up those claims. Do remember email them and not getting a useful answer.
Yeah, sure.
I thought it was supposed to released in 2018, Mr. Kemp?
He kinda ridiculed himself in late 2021, when he literally said „start of treatments in the beginning of 2022“. As the CEO, mastermind and founder of the company, how can you be so far off? Blows my mind.
At this point I wouldn’t be surprised if his venture will collapse eventually. It’s even more likely than everything else.
Anyways, I hope for the best.
Jesus Christ it’s always the same old saga with Hairclone: funding issues.
I can’t hear it anymore and if I read these lines from Dr. Kemp I am highly doubtful that this will pan out, ever – heard it all before.
It’s a pity. The tech and the knowledge is seemingly top-notch and would be a great step until full cloning. Dr. Kemp too is highly respected. But soon going into their 9th year of operation, it’s a big letdown and I advise every reader to lower their expectations in regard of Hairclone. Btw Hairclone was active long before Corona.
Don’t trust bald CEOs!
HairClone is amateur company with outdated technology with very limited results. Move on.
HairClone = Replicel.
Do not trust thick haired CEOs:-) Do they have the required passion?
Why should I buy hair loss treatment from bald CEO? He can test the technology on himself and then sell it to the others.
Don’t trust any CEO’s for that matter. Our CEO is a right Royal little @*#%er.
Fool me once shame on you fool me twice shame on me.
Dr Kemp has been mastering the art of the fund raising in exchange of 0 results for the last 20 years. His previous Intercitex “hair cloning aka give me money” company was even quoted in the stock exchange (I guess he left many happy investors behind in their almost 10 years of operations)
I notice the Dr Kemp is now changing the approach and instead of the of typical 3/5 years away, he is already a couple of years saying that it is wonderful tech is latest 1/2 years away trying to find some fools willing to invest in his money eating machine which I am sure it has been paying him a very generous salary for the last 20 years. I hate to be pessimistic but these guys who have been fooling and promising to suffering balding people the miracle cure should be totally ignored.
I’m not going to pretend to be optimistic here but – have they given any idea of the results that they expect with their treatment?
Well said Marco. I don’t think you’re being pessimistic – realistic would be a better fit. Wallet expansion service more like. It’s all too wishy-washy for my liking. Might sound harsh, but put up or shut up. So many big talkers in this game…with NOTHING to show for it. This company reminds me of an old rattly station wagon, that never quite makes it up a hill. AI will probably nail it before Dr K even changes the tyres. (That’s before AI turns on us and wipes us out of coarse.)
I’m a little suspicious. Why use “cell expansion” instead of “cloning”?
I also heard in an interview with the CEO of hairclone on YouTube that this method is not for for completely bald guys. Apparently, you need to have some hair for it to work.
Agreed. Without photos, a statement of effectiveness, or even a proper descriptive name, this is more than likely another scheme to steal venture capitalist money. It’s the Intercytex guy, after all. These people have no shame.
People, don’t be naive.
No results, no pictures, nothing. Only fancy website, only endless talkings and promises.
We have around 30 companies who can’t even start pre-clinical trials. They know that bald people are desperate, so they take money on false promises years and years.
I don’t know how they even convince venture capital firms to invest money in them. Base on what?
Bryan You are spot on . Can I just say I want to ask Joe Rogan’s comedy best friend Bryan callen on his own YouTube podcast if he can get a sit-down interview with the head’s of stemsons therapeutics or junji Fukuda trichoseeds or Dr tsuji, he and Joe Rogan have spoken about hair cloning many, many times and there struggles with there personal hair loss.
I’ll say it once and I’ll say it again….we all need to group together and start our own hairloss company. Admin will put up a fancy website to look legit…whoever has a strong background in medical science can put up some material on how our solution is cutting edge, we can take before and after shots with different lighting and shady looks, then fake testimonials….then ask for funding…..we will be millionaires….the rest of these companies are doing it with no repercussions….so we should do it too….almost forgot….our product is 2 to 5 years away
Here, here. It’s the same in the art world. Forget real talent. In many cases, all you have to do is be studying a PH.D in academic word salad, have gone to a preferred Fine Art school that the gallery “gatekeepers” approve of, fill your CV with art-speak wank-ology – and, boom…you’re in. Welcome to the stable. The arts grants with fly in too.
New article…
https://www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2023/oct/01/could-scientists-reverse-male-pattern-baldness-hair-loss-cell-therapy
They try to commercialize in 12 – 18 months now.
So I guess the original goal to go public, the year 2018, sorry, 2020, is gone now. Well, Corona was bad for business, let‘s make it 2022 then – but for sure this time! Okay, unforeseen circumstances happened last year and this year, but we are ready by the end of 2024! Could be 2025 too though.
At this stage, it is FAR more likely that Hairclone goes bankrupt before they succeed.
NO trust and hope whatsoever in Kemp and his company. A disgrace and a disappointment, unfortunately.
Thanks Ben, I am also pessimistic, but lets see. They also got covered in New Scientist recently. Post updated.
Dr Kemp seems not tired to be doing the same over and over again. Since his time at intercytex every couple of years he is coming out stating that his magic product is a 18 months away for changing the world. An absolute disgrace.
One thing I’d really love to know: can they tell whether an existing hair cell that is still apparently healthy will remain so? I’m in my 60s now and the hair in my horseshoe has become very thin (not uncommon). There is obviously no point in cloning or multiplying cells that are programmed to die off at some point. PS do you know whether L’Oreal are still working on hair multiplication?
In the Guardian article, they talk about this issue and a potential genetic test. I also think that the hair follicles they store will be picked from the healthiest of your remaining ones.
On a slightly related note:
“Miniaturization of hair follicles in androgenetic alopecia may be driven by accelerated localized ageing”
https://hairclone.me/newlook/dr-summik-limbu-wins-award-for-hair-loss-genetics-talk/
There is a point if you multiply them, and then be on a treatment to maintain them, and if it thin out with time you do it all over again…
2021, 2023, 2026 and so on. They just need to tell us when it’s available to the clinic so the patient can finally get treated. These companies giving us year timeframe is not doing us anymore good. It’s usually always bs and doesn’t come to light.
Having a hard time finding a contact for a Dr who will prescribe oral minoxidil. Is this something a general derm would prescribe?
Send me an email (in the contact page) and I will cc several I know depending on your location.
I considered follicle banking as a stand-alone procedure and reached out to a surgeon on the West Coast for a consultation in early 2022. I have advanced baldness (Norwood 6) and I do not take any medications. I’ve been following cell therapy for androgenetic alopecia since the early 2000’s. In my opinion, Intercytex was one of the more transparent and well-funded companies in this field, which is why I felt the need to research Hair Clone’s follicle banking extensively.
So here are the highlights, Hair Clone’s cell therapy research is very much about targeting existing hairs and trying to halt or reverse miniaturization. Age is a consideration when follicle banking, and you should be 45 years or younger because younger cells are better for cloning. The banked follicles can be used with any company that comes up with a cell therapy procedure.
I decided to take a wait and see approach for several reasons. Although I have many vellus hairs in my bald patch, the surgeon was recommending I take low doses of oral minoxidil and Propecia because the therapy targets existing hairs and there needs to be something for it to work with. I am at the age cusp for freezing my follicles so that is a concern. Lastly, I buzz my hair down to zero weekly, so I got nervous about pinpoint scars on otherwise virgin scalp.
Everyone I spoke with was very professional and if my personal circumstances were different or Hair Clone’s research was further along, I probably would have decided to bank my follicles. My intuition is telling me that there is probably a gap between what cell therapy can do and what I want it to do for androgenetic alopecia.
Excellent and very useful comment Transporter. Good to hear that feedback about Intercytex too.
Recently, Dr. Bessam Farjo told me that there was still no date to openly offer this technique to the public, but I hope it will be soon. We actually don’t know How this treatment will work since it has not been tested, but I think that there is a possibility that by injecting the multiplied DP cells from the donor area (resistant to DHT) into the follicles of the areas affected by DHT, these resistant cells They can replace those that are not, resulting in resistance to DHT in the treated follicles, but we will not know this until it is put into practice.
And I mean that if it were like that it would be almost a cure for a large number of people, for example people who have lost their forehead, crown or other degrees of alopecia could undergo a hair transplant and cover those bald areas and keep their hair. existing native for life without resorting to dutasteride or finasteride. It does not mean that it will be a cure in the way that the injection of cells makes hair grow where there is no longer any….
Great news administrator! HairClone was always my option after having a hair transplant 4 years ago (not counting hair cloning, which is the definitive cure) and I was in contact with them for a long time via email because I have had a feeling for a long time that this technique will be enough and 100% effective to avoid losing hair and stop taking other medications such as minoxidil, finasteride or dutasteride. They are very nice people and they answer your questions, let’s hope this technique is available soon. And out of curiosity, I remember that I asked them a series of questions, as if apart from receiving this injection when it was available, I would have to continue taking dutasteride in my case (they told me yes), how often would I have to repeat the treatment and they told me that every two years and whether the treated hair would become resistant to DHT and they responded that this would not be known until the clinical trial. If the treated hair becomes resistant, we probably will not have to rely on dutasteride or finasteride anymore and probably a series of cell injections in a single process will be more than enough for a period much longer than 2 years. An interview with HairClone currently administrator would be interesting! Good news!!
Sounds like they were honest with what they didn’t know. Which I appreciate.
Becoming resistant…I’ve heard that claim before with products. I’ll believe it when I see it. But I’m excited.
It’s difficult to take them at their word given that they’ve been promising those “UK Specials” for years now.
Recently OrganTech also confirmed to start Trials this year. Then Replicel is selling all assets to proceed. This and the news from Kangstem, Acorn, Stemson and Epibiotech the Industry seem to speed up.
I always liked the fact that they were trying to take advantage of relaxed regulations in the UK but also thought the prospects of being able to succesfully expand on what seemed like the failed efforts of Aderans/Intercytex were slim…..especially given what also appeared to be a limited source of research funding. Given what Geoff Hamilton at Stemson has said about Aderans being ready to go to phase 3, maybe there is a bit more hope than I thought, at least as a maintenance plus treatment.
Brief and maybe negligible update, cosmo pharmaceuticals today have said their phase 3 clinical trails has enrolled around 850 patients out of 1400 and they claimed to be on schedule.
If true, this is amazing. Side effect free maintenance plus an FUE transplant would be pretty close to a cure for me and many others. Wish it would come out before 2026 though, my scalp is seeing more daylight every week now..
Jacobo is our hope and possibly it will be a cure for many of us and I think that now there are many companies focused on this technique so it is a matter of time before it happens and I am talking about 1-2 years! Personally, I would like hair cloning to be closer because there would be a cure for baldness available to everyone and the fear and frustration of this disease would end, which is why I feel bad for people that I have met and that I know who have lived his entire life with a cap on his head because this affects us all!!!
I contacted HairClone again, I asked them about the date of the clinical trials, I hope to get a response soon and reviewing the conversation I had in 2020, the estimated date was 2025! I also saw in the conversation that the follicle bank was ideal for my case then because I was 24 years old and the cells being younger have more potential… I seem to remember that the annual cost to preserve the follicles was €3000-5000, I have no doubt that young cells have more potential, but I believe that a person without androgenetic alopecia has the same potential in their hair cells throughout life… I would not save my follicles in a preservation bank, unless later From the first intervention, save my cells to be able to multiply them in subsequent treatments without the need to extract 100-120 follicles again. The thing about young cells having more potential seems like marketing to me.
Hi Alvaro, have you received a reply from Hairclone to your message that you can share with us?
The last message I received was responding to my query about the price of the treatment and the storage of the follicles. As an aside, if in addition to storing the follicles ($5000) you perform a hair transplant at any HairClone clinic, the storage is reduced to $3000, which I assume is what you mentioned Kay. And from there the annual cost to preserve the follicles in their facilities is $150 per year.
I received similar information regarding the costs, Alvaro. Have you had any recent news regarding the availability of DP cell injection? When I asked Hairclone about this in January, I was told that the aim is still to make the treatment available in the UK this year (off-label). “Only” the necessary validation process still needs to be completed (which is unfortunately associated with very high costs).
They are very friendly, answer all questions by email. They told me that they hoped to offer the treatment in 2025 but it was not certain, it could be next year or within 2… We don’t know! In my case, I live in Spain, and I would have to go to Dr. Sergio Vaño’s clinic to extract my follicles, which would then be sent to HairClone (in case any readers from Spain are interested). I am seriously considering storing my follicles for when the treatment is available but for now I am going to wait a little longer.
Yes, I can confirm that Alvaro. The correspondence in my case was also very nice and my questions were all answered in detail. I also hope that the treatment will be available by 2025 at the latest and I am therefore considering having my follicles cryopreserved at the Farjo Hair Institute (UK) this year. Due to the special regulations in the UK, I hope to be prescribed the DP cell injection off-label even before the treatment is officially available.
Sorry for the question Kay: Do you live in the UK? If you decide to save the follicles and do it in the United Kingdom, I personally and surely all readers would appreciate it if you shared your experience!
No problem Alvaro. I live in Germany, but in the conversation with Hairclone and also in the consultation with the Farjo Institute I was told that it is also possible for people outside the UK to get the treatment prescribed off-label (as long as the validation process is completed).
Thanks Kay! They have many associated doctors in many countries (probably also in Germany) who can perform the extraction of the follicles and shipping them to the preservation facilities, the shipping is also included in the cost of $5000. They always said that patients who saved their follicles first would be the first to receive the treatment when it was available, although this seems like a claim to get financing, but if you decide to save your follicles please share it!! Thank you
That’s right Alvaro, Hairclone’s clinical network is really large. Unfortunately, they don’t yet have a clinical partner in Germany, which is why I chose the Farjo Hair Institute. I also hope to be able to receive the treatment before the actual launch (due to the special regulations in the UK that I mentioned). I will definitely keep you up to date.
I messaged Hairclone earlier this year and they told me that only the validation process still needs to be completed. Their aim is still to offer the cell injection service in the UK this year (off-label), which is possible due to the special regulations in the UK. Regarding the costs, I was told that the annual costs for banking are around €150-200 and the price for removal (if this is done separately) is around €3,000.
@Kay
@Alvaro
I‘ve been following Hairclone and Paul Kemp since the inception of Hairclone (2015) and I am also a little familiar with Intercytex.
Let me tell you all the platitudes and standard phrases that you cite in your posts have been the same for almost 10 years now
While I know Dr. Kemp is highly respected and is definitely able to pull off a trial – Hairclone is a big disappointment and nobody should be overly optimistic about them.
I clearly remember a time where Dr. Kemp said that their method would be put into clinical practice in 2018. And then 2020 and then was Corona but by the end of 2022 it’s definitely finished and now it’s gonna be there in 2025 – this time for sure!
Hi Ben, I can understand your concerns. As is so often the case, it’s a game of patience. And there is always some hope involved. But I’m still optimistic that Hairclone will bring their treatment to market in the foreseeable future. I’ve read a lot of articles and watched a lot of videos recently where they’ve presented their concept and the status quo. It sounds quite plausible to me. It is important to remember that Hairclone’s approach is different to that of Intercytex. Hairclone also has a large clinical network (including the renowned Farjo Clinic). And in my eyes, everyone involved is endeavouring to get their return on investment. I hope and trust that it is now just a matter of completing the validation process. The target of 2024/2025 would then be within reach.
I’m skeptical too Ben, that’s why I said that they had told me that the technique would be available next year but it could be next year or in 2, 3… We don’t know, that’s why I don’t want to save my follicles still. In 2020 they told me that they were going to begin testing that year, and reviewing the email thread they also told me that they were going to offer the technique at the end of 2022. That’s why I know what you’re talking about, but I think that in this case I am more optimistic since it is a relatively simple technique and we have seen how many more companies have become involved in this treatment so it is a matter of time before one of them brings it to the market and it will not be later than 1 or 2 years but it is my opinion.
I don’t know if it might be relevant, but apparently the CEO of HairClone Dr Paul Kemp has recently joined the advisory board of a company called Bio-ReCell. This company specialises in the isolation of certain cell types. I don’t want to read too much into it, but perhaps this is a positive sign with regard to the development of Hairclone’s DP cell injection treatment. I could well imagine that there are opportunities for co-operation with regard to the validation process or that synergies could be achieved here. Regardless, I remain optimistic that Hairclone will bring its treatment to market (off-label) in the UK by 2025 at the latest as announced.
In my last email with HairClone, Kay, I asked them if they could assure me that they would be able to offer the technique in 2025 and they responded that nothing was certain at the moment. I also still have hope in HairClone, but I hope that in 2025 they don’t tell us that in 2027…
Have i understood it right but hairclone dont have to have a 3 phase long clinical trial but can start the treatments after few clinical testings??
Hi Erik, that’s correct. This is made possible by special regulations in the UK. The MHRA allows companies such as Hairclone to make medicines available to patients before a product has a marketing authorisation if the doctor believes that the treatment is in the best interests of the patient. The requirement for this is that the manufacturing process has been licensed by the MHRA. This ensures that treatments are manufactured to the same level of quality as a treatment used in a clinical trial.
https://www.sciencefocus.com/the-human-body/cure-for-balding
I had already read this article on the HairClone page… I don’t know who the media wrote the article but reading it it seems like a joke, first of all it doesn’t matter if you cryopreserve your follicles at 15 years old or at 80, the important thing is to choose the right ones. hair that is 100% resistant to alopecia to multiply and if the person has already lost their hair due to alopecia it is impossible to recover it, so what difference does it make if you cryopreserve them, the younger the better? So that? So that when you have already lost your hair and it is impossible to recover it, they tell you that you did well to save your follicles when you were young but that now it is impossible to use them… These publications make me sick because what they do is deceive people… And Secondly, they talk about hair cloning because from the beginning that has been the motto of HairClone, to grow follicles de novo through injections of cells from the dermal papilla, but that would be very long term, this method would only serve to maintain the existing hair. which has not yet been lost but now they need regulatory approval and do clinical trials… So what were they going to do in 2020 when they told us they were going to start treating patients?? From 2020 to 2025 it has been 5 years since they were going to offer the technique…
Not sure this has been mentioned but I wonder did any news come out of this, admin?
https://hairclone.me/newlook/head-of-research-dr-jennifer-dillon-is-set-to-speak-on-hair-cloning-at-the-face-2024-conference-in-london/
Thanks Mike! Will try to find out more.
https://hairclone.me/newlook/hairclone-awarded-innovate-uk-grant-to-explore-hair-growth-stimulants/
Well, I guess, it’s something?
At this point Hairclone is a small research facility, jumping from one public grant to the next. Doing some stuff, but actually developing a product? I doubt it…
Hi admin, can you get an update from hairclone? What is happening, is the treatment going to be available this year?
I emailed them to see if they are offering the service before the trials and just more delays.
They expect to be treating people a year from now, but I don’t know if that’s on a regular basis, for the trials or just select individuals.
They said the exact same when I emailed them in 2019, 2022, 2023 haha…
Let me add 2018, 2020, 2021 and 2024. Lol.
HairClone will never release a product. They do research, that’s it.