In 2017, I covered some important groundbreaking hair loss research from UCLA, led by scientists William Lowry and Heather Christofk.
These researchers discovered two topical compounds (RCGD423) and (UK5099) to regrow hair. Both drugs, via different mechanisms, increase the production of lactate. This in turn activates hair follicle stem cells and leads to increased and quicker hair growth. Dr. Lowry’s patent is here. Note that RCGD423, activates the JAK-STAT signaling pathway.
Dr. Lowry, Pelage Pharmaceuticals and UCLA
Update: January 2023 — Pelage Pharmaceuticals’ new site is live.
Earlier today, reader “PinotQ” posted an important update on progress regarding these compounds’ further development. The compounds and technology have been exclusively licensed by UCLA to Pelage Pharmaceuticals, a startup company founded by Dr. Christofk, Dr. Lowry and Dr. Michael Jung.
Moreover, 100 percent of the shares in Pelage will be purchased by Allergan (Ireland) per an agreement. I have covered pharmaceutical giant Allergan many times on this blog in the past, and they are heavily invested in various new hair growth product technologies.
Rob Lowe has Taken Finasteride for 30 Years. Via his veins.
Actor Rob Lowe has been in the news this week after insulting Prince Williams’ hair loss. Mr. Lowe is 55 years old, and claims that at the first sign of hair loss 30 years ago, he stared taking a hair loss drug. Per the quote below, he took it intravenously via his veins! I assume he means finasteride injections.
Rob Lowe quote:
“The first glimmer that a single hair of mine was going to fall out, I was having that stuff mainlined into my (expletive) veins. And that’s what I did for the next 30 years.”
Almost everyone thinks that this drug that Rob Lowe took (and is maybe still taking) is Finasteride, usually given in the form of a pill. Donald Trump takes the same drug for his hair loss.
Dutasteride (Avodart) was not available 30 years ago (the younger Ashton Kutcher got lucky). I am not sure if it is a good idea to get Finasteride delivered through your veins, although Mr. Lowe has to this day maintained a very good head of hair and seems healthy.
I’m thinking it was a figure of speech to make a point with some humor. He’s probably just taking the pill in my opinion.
Note that he did have years of drug and alcohol abuse problems. So I am guessing he knows a lot about injecting himself! But most likely, you are right.
https://www.uchealth.org/today/rob-lowe-toasts-uchealth-rehab-center-and-28-years-of-sobriety/
Rob Lowe has no place judging anyone for their hair loss. Finasteride isn’t a choice for some. I have no opinions on the British Royals, but I assume William avoided Fin in order to protect his ability to produce an heir. Or maybe he’s got a healthier mindset than I do about appearance and doesn’t give a toss. I’ll give Lowe a pass on this because he makes a living from his looks and can’t possibly identify with those of us who strive hard for our achievements without the advantage of Hollywood looks.
We are fed up with clinical trials, research and long-term results.
We really want a real cure for baldness as soon as possible.
Amen
The hair loss industry is a multi billion dollar one even if there was a cure it will never be released find and avodart is the only option but these need to be taken at the very first stages in order for it to reverse the loss they are great drugs if jumped on quickly but people leave it to late and all they can do is stop the hair loss at that point any hair lost over the years prior to not king the drug will remain lost . My advice to anybody noticing loss at Crown or temples get on find or avodart asap before its to late.
The cure exists. How long it takes to get to market is the question.
@Drew Totally. Phase II results in July for Shiseido souls give us a clue. Whenever tsujis trial starts – the procedure will probably be out a year from then. Time to start saving up!
Which One ? The japanese ?
Finaster wasnt even available for prostate 30 years ago.
It’s obvious he’s just rounding up, as people do when speaking casually. I mean, it was released 27 years ago, so that’s obviously what he’s talking about.
I wonder if Aclaris will give an update on JAK for AGA at this press conference on June 5:
” WAYNE, Pa., May 24, 2019 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) — Aclaris Therapeutics, Inc. ACRS, +3.29% a physician-led biopharmaceutical company focused on immuno-inflammatory and dermatological diseases, today announced that management will present a company overview at the Jefferies 2019 Global Healthcare Conference on Wednesday, June 5, 2019 at 3:30 PM ET at the Grand Hyatt Hotel in New York, New York. “
June 5 is five days away…
Nasa, check out Pipeline page 4 and update on AGA Page 27 in the PDF . https://investor.aclaristx.com/events/event-details/aclaris-therapeutics-inc-jefferies-2019-global-healthcare-conference
Tissue-resident immune cells with potent sensing and effector functions are wellplaced to fundamentally aid tissue homeostasis via crosstalk with stem cells. • A dermis-resident TREM2+ macrophage subpopulation that promotes hair follicle stem cell quiescence via cytokinemediated JAK-STAT signaling has been identified. • pSTAT5 (the p indicates that STAT5 is in the ON position – ie: active, and then a red curved arrow blocks HFSC activation (this is telogen) • The administration of a JAK inhibitor would turn the pSTAT5 to the OFF position, and then opens the red arrow and PROMOTES HFSC activation
They need to let us know if they have any results and if so, what type of results.
It would be a great time to present the news at a the Global Conference. All eyes watching, June 5th just around the corner. Interesting.
I cringe when I think about a balding billionaire that publicly admits he doesn’t like it. It’s just so pathetic. how many unfunded miracles are we sitting on watching progress in slow motion? These guys could have made a fortune to add to it. Just pathetic.
Vain? Yes. But so are burn victims. People deserve dignity.
I agree. It blows my mind how slow progress has been despite all the financial incentives. MPB must truly be a phenomenally complex condition to reverse.
Well new to this site props for the information fellas well here’s my scoop in all this Japanese people are known for being very well organized and everything in orderly fashion no one tells the Japanese people to make 2 coordinated lines while there waiting for public transportation they just do maybe It explains a lot why waiting is not part of a balding male’s virtue excepting that might just be your answer for answers I think that a serious problem for ya is that your voices are only echoing back and forth In balding sites and you lack a physical presence in Japan to lay out a very well coordinated organized protest with out anyone asking you fellas 2 you fellas just do! When people protest in the good old companies releases retreats apologizes explains confirms all this just from public protest a little media attention …is how maybe a company is forced to become transparent
Recent photos of Kutcher suggest that Dut is no longer working for him or he’s simply given up on it. He’s a full-blown NW2.5 and heading to a 3 rapido.
He said awhile back that he officially stopped taking. From the photos in the recent case he’s in, it really doesn’t look like he lost much.
Interesting Follica bit here.
https://twitter.com/DukeAlumni/status/1134535106591428608
Nice find. Though at this point I wish they were “recruiting” clinics!
http://www.cassiopea.com/news-and-media/press-releases/yr-2019/190416.aspx
@admin :
Have you seen it already ?? new coumpound ! I found a new drug. It seems that nobody has seen it before ??? IM176OUT05
A novel and safe small molecule enhances hair follicle regeneration by facilitating metabolic reprogramming
This article “reports the hair regrowth-promoting effect of a newly synthesized novel small molecule, IM176OUT05 (IM), which activates stem cell metabolism. IM facilitated stemness induction and maintenance during an induced pluripotent stem cell generation process.” This article appears in the most prestigious journal in the science field so I guess it has merit to it.
More and more research is coming forward which makes this field more exciting almost every day.
A novel and safe small molecule enhances hair follicle regeneration by facilitating metabolic reprogramming
Abstract
” Targeting hair follicle regeneration has been investigated for the treatment of hair loss, and fundamental studies investigating stem cells and their niche have been described. However, knowledge of stem cell metabolism and the specific regulation of bioenergetics during the hair regeneration process is currently insufficient.
Here, we report the hair regrowth-promoting effect of a newly synthesized novel small molecule, IM176OUT05 (IM), which activates stem cell metabolism. IM facilitated stemness induction and maintenance during an induced pluripotent stem cell generation process. IM treatment mildly inhibited mitochondrial oxidative phosphorylation and concurrently increased glycolysis, which accelerated stemness induction during the early phase of reprogramming.
More importantly, the topical application of IM accelerated hair follicle regeneration by stimulating the progression of the hair follicle cycle to the anagen phase and increased the hair follicle number in mice. Furthermore, the stem cell population with a glycolytic metabotype appeared slightly earlier in the IM-treated mice. Stem cell and niche signaling involved in the hair regeneration process was also activated by the IM treatment during the early phase of hair follicle
regeneration.
Overall, these results show that the novel small molecule IM promotes tissue regeneration, specifically in hair regrowth, by restructuring the metabolic configuration of stem cells “.
https://www.nature.com/articles/s12276-018-0185-z
Hot damn! There’s never been a better time to be a balding mouse in Korea looking for a treatment comparable to minoxidil!
Regarding Prince William, maybe he tried finastaride and it didn’t work? I used it for 2 years and still lost hair, remember it doesn’t work for everyone
Lowe’s comment was taken out of context. He clearly said he took a “pill.” Obviously, he was a good responder to finasteride. Actually, so was I. I took the stuff and grew hair like crazy. Even the hairs on the back and sides grew thicker and darker. Unfortunately, my left nut ached like crazy, so I stopped taking the stuff, and my hair has continued to fall for 22 years.
I’ve been waiting for a topical anti-androgen for 22 years that can stop further loss and grow some back. It looks like 2022 will be the year for that. In only 3 years, men will never have to worry about losing hair again. The catch is, you won’t be able to get any regrowth. Guys like me and Prince William will be the last of the bald guys. Nothing will grow it back, but for a new generation that hasn’t lost it yet, no problem. Eventually, enough of us baldies will die off to where it will no longer be profitable to even search for a cure, because old dead guys no longer have any money to spend. They give it all away to their children, who simply slather on the topical anti-androgen with zero side effects. The chicks don’t care, because all the guys in those days will look like Rob Lowe.
Jonessss- what are you talking about lol. Bald people will always be around and topical androgen don’t work for everyone. Btw I am seeing more Jones in people’s blog names haha. Sorry fellas but there is only one Jones and that’s me Mjones:)
Rob Lowe is a d bag.
There’s some self-deprecating humor in my post. But maybe I’m the only one that sees it that way. :)
BTW:
“Jones” is not in my blog name; not is it in “Moines.”
Hey admin do you think lactate will work?
It was recently licensed.
Yeah i wanna try, im assuming its ammonium lactate cream we need? Or lactic acid solution? Can anyone advise
Thought the same, but can’t tell from published research if exogenous lactate would affect cellular metabolism.
Rogaine foam contains lactic acid as solubility enhancer, but we don’t see an improvement in growth there over PG/minoxidil solutions.
Research here:
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5657543/
Where’s mjones at? You guys are stealin my man’s name now. Need to go back to the drawing board.
Like that one dude named egg. C’mon now.
I’m thinking you guys cannot spell very well. BTW, Jonness is my birth name. I’m pretty sure my name came first. :)
Mjones is busy salivating over his boy cots 300 patents. The Greek connection.
Pssht talk to the hand cuz the face ain’t listening ✋
TomJones, jonesesss, etc you need to step back and realize Egghead and I are the OGs of this place. Even the admin used my name for an interview not too long. Which I am flattered :) I know admin is a secret fan of me. As for cots, he will be the only new thing coming out in the next 24 months. Mark my word on that. Jaks probably won’t work but if by chance it does the fda won’t pass that for hair loss. Immune altering drugs is serious stuff. Sisheido is too far away for the average Joe to fly to Japan. Wait list will be out the ass and expensive to get there 3x. If that gets approved in USA and Europe then great but that won’t be for several years. SM better version of rogaine, same for follicum. Tsuji far away, tissuesmart same, etc. Been around to see too many disappointments to get my hopes up about anything. I think follica will produce good amount of hair but probably nothing crazy dramatic like thick density from nw6 to nw1. He said himself it will be 4x better than what we have now.
Hah! I would have picked something much more creative for an interview Greek name! Like Stephanopoulos.
Mjones you can be entertaining, I’ll give you that…I want to believe in follica, I really do. It is the only thing that has any chance of coming out any time soon. I’m just not optimistic because many say minox will be the main drug for maintanance…which I can not tolerate.
Tomjones, The more recent speculation is that the main drug will be valproic acid: https://www.hairlosstalk.com/interact/threads/follica-protocol-to-use-valproic-acid-patent-march-21st-2019.122520/ as posted by Left4Bald in the May topic on this site FOLLICA PIVOTAL TRIAL IN 2019. Follica could be as close as anyone from getting a treatment to market, yet we are going on what must be 4 years of delays in their clinical trial timeline so hard to know what to make of any of this other than that they are still actively conducting optimization studies. Notice of the beginning of their pivotal trial, not to mention a nice set of pictures, would be sorely welcome.
“Many” are saying Minoxidil will be the main drug because the company has mentioned using an “existing drug”. It could be minoxidil, it could be another FDA approved drug. Read this journal below, they have shown that Taxarotene assist with angiogenesis aswell as follicular neogensis. Luis Garza, who shares a patent with Cotsarelis is leading a trial using taxarotene and wounding for CCCA hairloss.
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC5112045/#!po=76.7974
Absolutely and interesting to note re: Garza. Thinking back to the comments in FOLLICA PIVOTAL TRIAL IN 2019 and the short term nature of the new clinical trial Admin found, perhaps a pivotal trial only needs to be long enough to determine efficacy if safety has already been determined for the existing drug.