OrganTech Aims to Regenerate Hair and Teeth

Update: February 23, 2024

More great news. OrganTech (Japan) is entering the South Korean market. Their local partner OrganEcoTech will get exclusive rights to OrganTech’s artificial organ regeneratice medicine technology, including hair growth. They also plan to enter the US regenerative medicine sector.

OrganTech and OrganEcoTech
OrganTech (Japan) and OrganEcoTech (South Korrea). New partnership.

Update: February 20, 2024

OrganTech CEO Takashi Kondo Interview

A new interview with OrganTech CEO Dr. Takashi Kondo (h/t “Theo”). Key quote:

In terms of hair regeneration, the future is just around the corner where people who suffer from thinning hair or alopecia will no longer have to worry about it.

He also says that they can increase the number of hairs from 200 to 20,000 via Dr. Tsuji’s autologous hair multiplication process. Hair and teeth regeneration remain their primary areas of focus. He also mentions the progress in artificial skin regeneration technology and and his desire to see a world without the need for animal testing.

The company currently only has six employees. Five researchers at RIKEN in Kobe; and one (himself, the CEO and person in charge of business and finance) in Tokyo. Per the news below from earlier this month, OrganTech will hire and additional six new scientists by summer.

They are being approached by many pharmaceutical and beauty industry companies for partnership opportunities. Ultimately, this will translate into faster fundraising, ecomomies of scale and a lower final cost of treatment.

Update: February 16, 2024

Reader “Theo” regularly e-mails me very unique info from Asia that I would never have found by myself. I could not get the second link below to translate properly, but I trust what “Theo” said. So I am pasting his words in the below three bullet points with minor grammar changes by me.

As always, Dr. Takashi Tsuji sounds very sincere. In the first link below, read his recollection of the two big tragedies at RIKEN. OrganTech seems very focused and is unlikely to repeat the past fundraising related mistakes from the Tsuji team.

OrganTech and Dr. Tsuji from Riken.
Dr. Takashi Tsuji of RIKEN presenting to university students recently. His hair and teeth regeneration work is now undertaken via OrganTech.
  • Dr. Takashi Tsuji gave an interview and presentation to a Tokyo University student group two months ago. They visited his very expensive lab and he explained to them his vision about OrganTech’s future. They got far more funding that they need, from several different companies. Their vision is to make OrganTech an off-shore company for groundbreaking research from different scientists who are looking for funding.
  • Dr. Tsuji plans to create a consortium that could be called a “second RIKEN” by establishing companies for each business to socially implement regenerative medicine technology, with OrganTech at its core.

Two Part Interview and Presentation

https://note.com/utdiligent/n/n78bd096e3ab5

https://note.com/utdiligent/n/n7fce80d6710f

  • OrganTech is hiring 6 new scientists by the end of April 2024. After June, they will move to new offices and a research center in the Harumi neighborhood of Tokyo. It seems like they may start clinical trials around that time for both hair and teeth per “Theo” (I could not find anything on trials in the translation I got). Their artificial skin business is also advancing.

https://jp.indeed.com/viewjob?jk=6ce284d70b0a789f&tk=1hmpusbgu2b1p002&from=serp&vjs=3

Update: June 29, 2023

OrganTech Miho Ogawa
OrganTech and its CEO Dr. Miho Ogawa win a prestigious award in Japan.

OrganTech Wins Future Award 2023 for its Organ Regenerative Medicine Technology

Congratulations to Dr. Miho Ogawa of OrganTech for winning Japan’s prestigious “The Economist Future Award 2023“. Per my new Japanese correspondent (old ones were “nosyu” and “Fuji Maru“), this award is sponsored by the “Economist Future Awards 2023 Executive Committee” and supported by the renowned Mainichi Shimbun newspaper agency. There were 225 nominated companies, of whom 15 got awards spread across 5 categories. Dr. Ogawa only became CEO/Director of OrganTech in early 2023.

Make sure to read the detailed interview with Dr. Miho Ogawa that I also posted earlier this month. She started working at Dr. Takashi Tsuji’s lab in 2005 at the Tokyo University of Science when she was a student. Thereafter she joined Organ Technologies, which folded in October 2020 due to fundraising issues that were exacerbated by the Corona crisis.

Now she is back with OrganTech, and I am getting positive vibes yet again for Dr. Tsuji’s hair multiplication work finally reaching fruition. The prior issues with fundraising inexperience and surprise pandemic will surely not be repeated. Japan is home to one of the oldest populations in the world, and also home to one of the fastest clinical trial processes in the world. Especially when it comes to regenerative medicine and anti-aging treatments.

Make sure to keep checking OrganTech’s website for new developments. Per my prior updates, they are aiming to start hair regeneration related human clinical trials in 2024. And they want to offer their hair multiplication treatment in clinics in 2026. I assume they can move this fast due to their past decade of work combined with Japan’s favorable regulations. However, as most readers know, their original goal had been 2020, prior to the earlier mentioned disruptions.

Update: June 1, 2023

Japan: Global Hub for Hair and Tooth Regeneration

An interesting new interview with OrganTech’s confident representative director Dr. Miho Ogawa. It looks like the team is very serious about making Japan the global hub for hair and tooth generation. And they are keen to avoid repeating past fundraising and commercialization related mistakes.

The other representative director is Takashi Kondo (see his recent interview), who is in charge of business planning and fundraising. Ms. Ogawa is in charge of research and development and technology.

Lead scientist and OrganTech owner Dr. Takashi Tsuji remains fully involved of course. The company is scheduled to conduct clinical research within one to two years for practical application. With Japan’s fast track regulations, this treatment could still get to clinics in 2026 as was announced by Dr. Takashi Tsuji last year. Key quote:

“In the near future, this world-first, Japan-originated organ regenerative medicine management will shock the world and contribute to improving the QOL of many people.”

Tsuji Mouse Hair OrganTech
Human hair growing on mice via the work of Dr. Takashi Tsuji and his team at RIKEN.

Update: February 11, 2023

OrganTech: New name for Organ Technologies

Organtech
Organtech: hair follicle and other organ regeneration technologies.

After ending its partnership with Riken and Dr. Takashi Tsuji in 2021, Organ Technologies is back. It is renaming itself to OrganTech, and this time the founder himself is Dr. Tsuji. A little confusing, but read the next paragraph. OrganTech plans to start hair regeneration related clinical trials in 2024. And yet again they have a new website. They are also getting funding from Kobayashi Pharmaceutical.

According to the latest press release, it seems like founder Dr. Tsuji will remain the team leader and OrganTech is still affiliated with RIKEN. However, Dr. Tsuji cannot be officially titled CEO, since RIKEN does not allow its top scientists to be CEOs of venture firms. This last point was e-mailed to me by a reader.

I previously mentioned how Dr. Tsuji took over Organ Technologies’ debt in 2021 in order to prevent patent loss. He also announced that they plan to offer their hair multiplication treatment in 2026. So this new development means they are on schedule. Note that Japan has favorable regulations in relation to clinical trial speed when it comes to regenerative medicine.

They are also very serious about fundraising this time. On March 6th 2023, they plan to present their technology on Tokyo Innovative Business Day. On OrganTech’s website, it says that the company’s purpose is to “create functional organs.” They they emphasize the two main areas of Dr. Tsuji’s past work:

“Technologies that can contribute to hair regenerative medicine and dental regenerative medicine.”

Also of interest, the following patents are assigned to Organ Technologies. These now belong to OrganTech.

Jan 5, 2020

I have mentioned many times that Dr. Takashi Tsuji and his hair loss treatment protocol holds the best short-term prospects for a hair loss cure. Mr. Tsuji is working in partnership with RIKEN, Organ Technologies and Kyocera. The treatment can come to market faster because 1) It is autologous in nature; and 2) Clinical trials in Japan get finished faster due to favorable government regulations.

All four of these Japan-based partners have their own sites (in Japanese and English). So it is hard to keep a track of new developments.

Organ Technologies and Takashi Tsuji

Organ Technologies has updated its website (Update: They replaced it yet again with a new one in 2023. See upper sections of this post for latest updates). A goldmine of information is available on the new site.

The hair regeneration page has a list of publications at the bottom. Apparently, the company has developed three generations of its technology over the years. Mostly via the work of Dr. Takashi Tsuji and RIKEN (in Kobe, Japan).

I will add more to this post in the coming days, but wanted to start the discussion now. Please only post comments about Organ Technologies and the work of its partners in this post.

Organ Technologies Hair Regeneration Treatment.
Organ Technologies Hair Growth.

163 thoughts on “OrganTech Aims to Regenerate Hair and Teeth”

  1. I am wondering if human trials has been finished for the 1. generation: DP rejuvenation treatment.
    Otherwise SHISEIDO has a big advantage. I could not imagine that SHISEIDO has to do a 2year trial and Tsuji has only to do a little trial and then commercialize it.
    I want an official update of Kyocera. They claimed in 2016 on their homepage that they commercialize in 2020. in November 2018 Tsuji said that they will cure baldness in 2020.

    So we need an kyocera-Update!

      1. bringing out a $300,000 treatment wouldnt be as a worthwhile for a company than a $5000 treatment that they can sell to the masses

  2. Hopefully one of those will be available this year! Glad to hear they have other options and the prices could be much less the other treatments.

  3. Now this is EXCELLENT information from a company. These Japanese have tackled all 3 areas of its competitors. Sisheido better stop messing around or these guys will take them under. I still think it will be out of reach for common folk due to its price 300k but……if they announce completion of any of the three treatments they technically cured baldness. I’ll take a loan out to end this bs mpb once and for all.

  4. Which of the three treatments do we think will be best for diffuse thinners?

    Also, what is Organ Technologies relation to Tsuji?

  5. On the page they mention that they continue R&D and anticipate clinical trials. Too bad thought they were undergoing trials in humans already. this still sounds like it’s sooo far away:/

      1. Hi Admin, first thank you for mentioning me, that’s kind. I knew you would make an article (or more articles) out of this new information as this company is our biggest hope and the by far most advanced in terms of time schedule and technology.

        How do you know they started human trials already? Any official statement?

        Anyhow I believe they started secret testing long time ago, probably in 2018. Those claims on the website are so strong and confident, they must know it works – otherwise it would be terribly embarrassing.

        1. Hi Ben and GreedBlocksTheCure,

          — Per this interview (I did not recheck the video today so please do so), human trials began in 2019:

          https://www.hairlosscure2020.com/dr-tsujis-hair-loss-cure-in-2020-will-be-costly/

          — Per page 2 of this interview after translation, human trials were scheduled to start in 2019:

          https://project.nikkeibp.co.jp/behealth/atcl/feature/00003/061200009/?P=2

          I would be surprised if they are behind schedule, since this is an autologous treatment.

          1. I see now. They were doing clinical research at a university hospital during 2019. The clinical trials for product approval will begin after the results of the research are submitted.

      2. @admin according to their last official post from 2018:
        ” Under the plan, we will begin manufacturing samples for preclinical testsinJuly2018 and we will conduct preclinical safety tests using animals.Weplan to complete the safety testingin 2018.If the results of the preclinical safety testsare successful, we will apply for clinical research to the Certified Special Committee or Certified Committee for Regenerative Medicine. After receiving approval fromthe Committee, we will present aprovisionalplan to the Minister of Health, Labor and Welfare,and will shift towardimplementation of clinical research.The details of the clinical research will be announced before the initiation of theresearch. ”
        But, there is no official announcement about any clinical trial.

      3. Histogen made similar claims about time lines, FDA in The States average 17yrs for trials and market phase. Ill remain hopeful but expect the worst, 300k is ridiculous but perhaps there will be licensing and more affordable options of it does indeed make it to market

  6. Unfortunately, I have to ask the question… Are these companies seeking investor money? Companies make beautiful claims when seeking investor money. What’s motivation for website claims without proof or an available product? Just tempering expectations a bit.

    Photos. If these claims are legit (good chance they are), then I sincerely hope we see photos soon. That’ll be the moment. Let’s hope these companies have done it and they’re good, honest people.

    1. Videos, not photos, should be the minimum standard of proof. My first question when I see before and after photos is often is it even the same person?

      Even people in Africa have video phones now. There is just no excuse for not taking a video.

    2. good, honest people!!… what’s that??…
      It’s about money… good and honest it’s not part of the deal…

      But we still hope for the best…

      1. Admin, forgive me for the skepticism. I’ve been lied to by the hair loss industry since I was 19, and the results have been particularly rough for me over the past 20 years…

        I once knew a very reputable HT doctor who claimed a 70% growth rate with his brand new hair follicle generation process. He used that promise to get me to agree to another hair transplant surgery (my 4th) plus his new hair regeneration procedure to supplement. That said, he still wanted standard FUT to make a predictable and artistic hairline, but he was to fill in the crown with his new breakthrough procedure (I drove 9 hours each way to see him.. twice). I agreed to his plan, because I was desperate from previously failed FUT procedures, and the doctor knew it. Again, he had a great reputation for hairlines, so I trusted him on the FUT in the front and new hair regeneration process on the crown. It made sense. He took my money.

        This doctor is a well-known name in the HT industry even to this very day. He presented a very lengthy and beautiful PowerPoint presentation at a national hair conference showing microscopic photos of new hair follicle formation through his breakthrough process. I now know that the point was to attract desperate people like me to his office.

        Needless to say, the new procedure failed. The new follicles were a lie. I now have linear FUT scars on the sides of my head that have left me no other choice but to cover it with a wig every day, costing me thousands of hours, thousands of dollars, discrimination against me at work, and no personal relationships (since I refuse to impose my daily stress on anyone).

        This doctor named that fake cure “autocloning”… plucked hairs plus Acell.

        That’s enough venting for one day. I know the past doesn’t predict the future, and I visit this website with hope each week. I just also hope that my story might help give people’s optimism a healthy dose of caution and critical thinking. Doctors can pretty much claim whatever they want, and they tend to do so if it helps the money roll in.

        1. I understand Slick, and hope things improve for you. I want to stop wearing a cap so often myself. Not to mention needing haircuts every 4 weeks due to various regions of the scalp misbehaving.

        2. this guy got me too..back in 2009 …shaved my head, got smp…to cover my scars…after lasers to smooth and flatten the scars.. concealed my scars about 70 percent in 2015..this doctor charged me…for the test and never called me to see if the beard hairs grew.. the beard hairs never grew back either..there is a circle in my mustache..where he plucked them so hard…lol

  7. First of all, Dr.Tsuji is not professor and scientist on some marginal university in some rural Thailand town. He is professor on one of the best universities in Japan. Japan is highly advanced country and Japanese are very hardworking people. So, don’t worry, he is not gonna lie if they failed to produce cure for MPB.

        1. I think you may have misunderstood what I meant. I was not ridiculing Tokyo University but most of the others.
          And I have been to Japan and it was awesome.

      1. Dr.Tsuji is scientist with very big credibility and his team is working on many other organoids. Not just hair. In future all these treatments and innovations will bring very big positive things for japanese economy and health. Everyone who had visited Japan knows that they are very credible people.

  8. Hey Slick, sorry to hear about your experience. Hair loss industry is a giant scam. I personally like it when people vent on here. It’s good to hear it so others can learn andnot fall for ht and other scam doctors. Was this doctor Rahal? I know he is big on fut hairlines and known for impressive results but it’s all advertising. I hear other complaints from that Prasad guy who is pushing his advance prp. Haha dude screams scam. They all need to be called out. Not sure why so many forums block the names of these ht scammers. They need to be accountable for their actions for taking advantage of innocent mpb sufferers. Better off not getting an ht from a crook and go bald than have a failed one with scars and blowing thousands. So much for the fda tracking these guys down. It’s all about money ….always about money.

    1. Thanks Mjones. I found a great micro pigmentation artist who is slowly helping me mask the scars with a buzz cut, so I’m hoping that’ll help me ditch the life-sucking wig and makeup routine. The SMP is subtle, unnoticeable, and effective. I do take some responsibility for bad choices and am always working on a “fix”. Moral to the story is NEVER get FUT scars. My life would’ve been far easier had the most recent scam not sold me on getting scars on the sides of my head which are very very hard to hide.

      The doctor’s name I won’t say, but searching autocloning acell and plucked hair might get some results from good ole 2010. He was really onto something working with intercytex! LOL. The PowerPoint presentation really sold me on traveling to see him. Desperate people make bad decisions, and HT doctors take full advantage. You just have to keep moving forward and try to have a better plan.

      1. Slick

        Reading your story, I feel deep and honest empathy with you.

        My personal struggle with mpb has also caused me to isolate myself, socially and relationship wise.

        I also feel ridiculous lucky that I’ve been able to dodge several transplants – that I know would have been disastrous. The first one 20 years ago (when I was around 20) with a local doctor would have ruined me for life.

        I was so close, so reading your story really hits home, because it could very well have been me.

        Honestly, I truly hope there will be something that actually works within the next five years, so that people like you can finally find some healing and peace. I, with my NW3, will gladly get inline behind you, as you deserve this so much more.

        1. Telly, Your comment is greatly appreciated. I’m pretty much max NW. That said, at your NW 3, it’s possible that FUE and some subtle SMP could help you. Regardless, it’s best to embrace it and clip your hair nice and short. Men look the strongest when thinning hair is clipped short. Embrace being a guy with too much testosterone! Women have told me they liked when guys clip hair short, because it makes them feel more girly by comparison.

          Anyway, I WISH I could clip my hair very short and just move on. Unfortunately, FUT scars are long and embarrassing all around my head. I refuse to be a walking joke, so I cover them up (particularly at my job as an engineer, I speak in front of big crowds sometimes). We all have our issues to deal with. It’s certainly been humbling and isolating as you say.

          Best wishes to you. I’m very glad you never got strip scars! Maybe you can buzz it short until we get the cure!

      2. Sounds like you are speaking of the MD in North Carolina, but that seems odd considering his stellar reputation?

        1. “live your life” Yes, I thought the same thing! He’s a hardworking MD that takes pride in conventional HT hairlines. You feel you can trust well-known industry leaders, right? I did.

          But ask yourself, given that we have nothing better than finasteride and minox in 2020, what business does anyone have naming a 2010 procedure “autoCLONING”? What does that imply?? How does a doctor get away with such colossal BS and still keep a “stellar reputation”?? He claimed 70% success rate of new follicles in a written presentation… BS… No consequences

          The whole point of the scam was to draw long-distance people like me, with no hope left, into his office where he could convince a scarred, max norwood guy that there’s still hope and that I should pay thousands for even more procedures. That’s the evil of the business. There was still money to be squeezed from me. I was desperate after failed hair transplants and being a high NW beyond any surgeon’s capabilities. He knew it. He used it.

          Even the most reputable names in the industry have no problem running scams based on hope and hype. They’ll give you life-altering scars knowing full well they can’t really fix your hair. It’s all about the money.

  9. Yeah that Dr in North Carolina talks a lot about innovation but I never see any real WOW factor results from prp or his transplants. The best fue I see are from Spain. Fue experts, and some good results from hassan wong, rahal and Konior. I see great ethical reviews from konior and great quick healing from his patients. Hopefully we will see cell based transplants this decade and remove the need to butcher our heads.

    1. Mjones.. LOL… Hype brings clients from far and wide! They can claim almost any new, unprovable “developmental” breakthrough is working with no consequences (if it doesn’t work for YOU, then you’re a unique case). You only find out after you’ve paid. So what’s the latest snake oil? Exosomes?

  10. I google Acell hair auto cloning and at least 10 doctors refer to it as autocloning or auto cloning on their sites….! Based on some paper about Acell. What a scam.

        1. Admin, Okay I’m done spamming your site with my scar-head origin story. It helped to share. Now I’ll stay relevant to the topics and hope for the best moving forward! If and when we see evidence of a breakthrough, I might just appreciate that a bit. Thanks.

          1. No worries, I trust long time posters’ feedback. Were your scars largely from your earlier FUT, or from the most recent one?

            1. Original scars in back of the head were from Dr. Shapiro in South Florida. He had big-time radio ads running the Miami-Fort Lauderdale metro area. I was 19 years old and showed him photos of my NW7 grandfather to see if that’d be enough hair to work with, and he told me the results would be “miraculous”… Had 3 surgeries over consecutive Spring Breaks. Result was sparse plugs and cratered scalp.

              Many years later I was searching for any solution to fix hairline, add density, and ditch wig (buzz shorter). That’s when Dr. North Carolina had the plan of supplementing new FUT from sides of the head with his new “autocloning”. It made sense at the time, since Acell was supposed to make scars almost nonexistent (per the PowerPoint presentation) and I was desperate. The side-head FUT decision I blame more on myself, since I was then an adult. Regardless, I was lied to about autocloning and was flat-out told that it was working very well. I wanted to believe in a reputable doctor. Didn’t work out.

              The scars on the side of the head make SMP masking much more difficult. It’s a highly noticeable location when facing people to talk. My hair is too thin to cover them without makeup. Sucks.

              Anyway.. I’m ready for a real solution. Hopefully we see some results.

  11. Hairclone received full funding!!!
    We’re on course gents
    Tsuji hairclone Tissuse and distant chance shiseido on the line up!

    WOO!!

        1. ive met with 4 of their clinical partners, 2 face to face. the other two via skype. i believe we will have other treatments that prove more robust soon before they launch. conincidentally, i am meeting with Cooley on Friday and will ask him about hair clone. however, he is really high on exosomes right now….so should make for an interesting meeting

        2. Ok, but that Tweet I linked to before from one of the UK doctors only mentioned follicle banking. Hopefully they can speed up the more important work.

    1. Only interesting for our children. I’m following this blog since I’m 23, back then I was hearing news about the „big players“ that were supposed to have a cure by now according to their timeline and I always thought to myself nice, I’ll just focus on studying, maintaining a good lifestyle and physique and by the time I finished university and found a job, I’ll finally enjoy life again having hair like most people around me. Hitting 28 soon and nothing has changed, not even speaking about available treatments but also potential treatments. The biggest innovation is follica, combining microneedling with probably minoxidil

      1. I remember when I was 18 and started losing hair and they said a cure was within 5-10 years away. There was equal hype back then but it feels like they are maybe half way there since then. I’m turning 30…so at 42 maybe I’ll have hair lol. Who honestly cares at that point. At least I’ve been alright with buzzing my hair with a 0 and 1 since I was 19, not some guy messing with my hormones or butchering my scalp. So I’ve been fortunate there. Besides random comments and questions if I’m in the army or a neo-nazi, it’s alright.

  12. If that same north Carolina doctor is involved with hairclone then my excitement for that company is now gone. I really hope these researchers actually understand the stress we go through and that scamming us or providing false claims is not cool. My gut tells me that this treatment will provide sparse new hairs and nothing close to a cure. Prob best case prp results. Of course im pulling this out of my a%* but I just don’t trust that company. Failed intercytex researchers with a scammy ht doc already promoting autocloning. Doesn’t sit right especially when they asked the public to crowdfund them lol. Even follica didn’t have amazing results at least he didn’t put up a go fund me account lol.

  13. Biologist find 5x increase in life span
    For c elegan “applocable to humans”

    Also sinclair has new interview saying their working on full tissue age reversing at Harvard with george churchs lab.

      1. This is a lot bigger than hair. In fact I’d encourage anyone stressing about hair loss to dive into all of the exciting stuff going on with life extension and age reversal. It’s given me a genuine peace of mind.

      2. Well hey It’s not easy becoming a chief scientist at Harvard… just hearing two of them saying their astounded by what they’ve discovered in the past 6 months is obviously note worthy.

        These studies are totally correlated with yuva mitochondria take on the situation btw so I think it’s much more worth attention.

        Not to sound elitist but you know it’s a big difference between these hair loss companies vs Harvard.

  14. Hello Gents,

    Probably i’ve missed that but Tegardong this new technology: after new follicles will be cultivated in the lab and and send back to the doctor is it going to be good old regular transplantation? Similar to FUE procedure?

  15. Tired of hearing about all the hairloss and age reversal break through’s. Nothing ever comes to fruition. Most just want the publicity.

    1. Age reversal? It’s gonna take decades no need to be on the edge of your chair. Their doing clinicals in 2022 it’ll be alot longer than that until they can turn a 60 yo into a 20 yo body. Even ray kurzweil as aggressive as his exponential time lines are is 2040.

      If libella succeeds this year starting next week dr. Bill Andrews work is being put to the test with controversial coverage. If they succeed then you’ll be hearing about this more than trump. That’s not likely to succeed though according to other scientist.

  16. Admin,

    I contacted Organ Technologies to ask some basic questions, and they responded. Here is their response:

    “We are conducting research to provide patients with our technology as you have expected.

    The method of recruiting clients and clinical trials or subjects are undecided now.

    We hope to confirm our progress on our new HP new arrivals and media etc.

    I am sorry to hear that you will respond to your expectations,
    but I would be pleased if you can understand it.

    We will encourage our employees to use words from you
    and we will make every effort to realize it as soon as possible.”

    Sorry for posting this on an “old” post (not even on the first page) but I wasn’t sure where to put it.

    1. Thanks Paul! Greg got a similar reply too. Other sources suggest they started trials last year. Hard to tell if Tsuji and Organ are on the same page and being transparent.

    2. Well it’s basically neither a bad nor a good reply, and probably a standard generic text, copy and paste. I wonder how many enquiries they get, must be thousands a year.

      It’s clear that they don’t want to give any promises and hold expectations down. There’s always a chance of failure – maybe the technique just doesn’t work in humans (mice it does).

      What’s true is that the official statments (Tsuji Interviews, Organ Tech Website, RIKEN) are sometimes a little contradictory or confusing – the website for instance is pretty direct and audacious and claims a “global breakthrough”. Other statements are more cautious. The translations from Japanese to English also seem to be a little wooden at times.

  17. No worries. Do you think we will learn anything significant in March?

    Greg, did you follow up? I didn’t bother, as they didn’t really answer any of my questions, and I thought I’d just get a similar reply to the first one.

    1. Nah, I didn’t. Although they usually do give updates in March. I think that they’re not telling us anything real about their work because those inquiries can come form anyone. Only months ago they were giving lectures and interviews about their treatment so I wouldn’t take what they said as super crucial – they could just be avoiding disclosing anything of importance.

  18. Very interesting. I guess that this treatment is for people who are completely bald and not in the process of balding? Unless you could do multiple surgeries but with the price that seems unrealistic.

    1. From the information their website, they claim that it doesn’t matter at what stage you are – they have the treatments to fix it.

      1. meaning even If I’m only a norwood 2-3 it can restore me back to a 0 forever? I’m confused how they would be able to do this with out multiple surgeries if I am certainly gonna lose more hair

            1. I think their “first generation” procedure dies that – I think it’s similar to Shiseido’s procedure or what hairclone is trying to do – it DHT-proofs the hairs that you have. And the second gen. treatment clones hairs and fills up places in which you don’t have any. Check out their site – all this info is on there.

    1. They definitely claim to so some amazing stuff. I guess we’ll find out this year with trail results – but yeah. A lot of people – both on this blog and other blogs and other places as well refer to tsuji as one of the “imminent cures” that are being developed. And while there’s no tangible proof to back that up yet, there is a very good amount of evidence.

    2. Only downside is the price during the first few years. Then it should drop to be somewhat affordable but still pricey. But it’ll spark competition – like TissUse who’s already playing ball – and others and create variety so you might be able to get a very similar treatment that’s in a much different price range.

        1. Tsuji or TissUse? TissUse should be starting their trial in late January – so any day now. For tsuji, nobody really knows when they’ll do an update but they usually give an update in March so there’s a good chance they will this March as well.

          1. I assume TissUse will have another delay… unfortunately
            Jon Knight had problems with the company which should do the trials. As we are in end of January and the trial haven’t started I think we can forget TissUse for the next months

  19. Corregidme si me equivoco, pero todo esto no fue noticia en 2018?Según lo que había leído en articulos de tricologos, los resultados en humanos habían sido malos y aseguran que todavía es una utopía la clonación capilar.
    Ojalá no sea así. En qué os basais para esperar buenas noticias este año?

  20. But how will the business model thrive if they’re charging $250K plus? They’ll have a decent amount of customers initially then it will fizzle out shortly afterwards and won’t sustain. However, this does cause a healthy pressure on other hair regenerative biotech companies to pick up the pace.

    1. All relatively new technologies and innovations are very expensive.

      This treatment will be very expensive, because it will give long time real solution based on science and technology from leading worldwide institute (RIKEN).

      And this is the closest that we can get for hair cloning in near future. All other treatments are part-time solutions or only lab based dreams so far.

      Hopefully, they got a chance to test the treatment and improve the technology last 2 years.

  21. Thanks admin for the update but I don’t want to get my hopes up anymore. I don’t care if this cost so much money as long as it comes out to the market, I hope this isn’t a cruel joke. Bryan bro if you read this, do you think Dr tsuji hair cloning is better than stemsons therapeutics ? and do you believe that Dr tsuji will be able to release his technology to the public in 2026 ? And if this will be 250k plus what if one just needs to fill in one’s temples? That’s only like 1000k hair grafts generally speaking,so will 1000k hair grafts really be 70k dollars ? If so people have spent way more money on a Lexus than getting there looks back a good hair line does amazing thing’s to one’s physical appearance. Confidence is a key component in life.

  22. After clinical trials we will know which technology is better. Until then we must wait.

    OrganTech got their first funding and if they get their second funding in March, then they will firstly get to clinical trials in 2024. It will be game changing and it will open doors for other organ regenerations, because hair follicle in his nature is very complex organ.

    Stemson is working with iPSCs and they are still many years away from clinical trials, because USA laws are different than Japanese.

  23. Well what a nice surprise. Tsuji is back, with a vengeance. Nice find, admin.

    Just a few short years away, hair cloning (Stemson, Tsuji, Fukuda, Hairclone, TissUse, Stemore) was seen as THE future solution. Today we are not much further – but trials are announced so here’s that. Eventually it will happen.

    This approach is very complex: you need to serve 2 clients: patients and clinics. It’s more of a tech-business than a pharmacological business. So those ventures must deliver high-tech and know-how to thousands of clinics. Absolutely possible, but I wouldn’t underestimate the size of this endeavor. Traditional hair-transplants might be gone forever in 10 years.

    But the bigger threat for cell-therapies is that traditional interventions (pills, injections, topicals) gained a lot of traction in recent months and seemingly offer full solutions for hair loss and are much easier to apply for the patient himself and also from a suppliers perspective. Pelage, Amplifica, HopeMed, Kintor, Olix – every single one of them could solve hair loss. No transplants needed.

    If cell-therapies want a market-share, they need to move quickly. Ask yourself: would you rather take HMI-115 or go to a transplant-clinic?

    A lot of competition in the market, that’s good for us.

    1. That would be so great if a company like Hopemed could cure bald scalps without a transplant, but I am reminded by some dermatologists that once the hair follicle gets too small, there is no coming back. Do you agree? Is there any science saying differently for human hair?

      1. The stem-cell-reservoir is always there. Many studies showed that if certain signalling-pathways are activated the follicles fully recover – they are just dormant by definition.

        This approach is done by Pelage (directly stem cell) and Amplifica (signalling pathways).

        HopeMed also showed full regrowth (in previously fully bald areas) in the studies – but that mechanism is a little different (prolactin).

        Androgen receptor targeted therapies (Olix, Finasteride or Kintor) are not very effective in that.

      1. The best news of the year without a doubt, although with Tsuji we must be cautious given his history. Reading your comments, I have to agree with Bryan. All of us who suffer from alopecia, once did not have this problem in our minds and I consider that a solution based on pills, topicals or injections from time to time would not solve our psychological problem of not worrying about baldness forever (although I understand your reflection Ben, that this path would be more affordable in economic terms). And as a final comment, I have read studies that explain how DHT affects the dermal papilla, opening small pores through which the stem cells escape, turning into skin cells, so in a person who has never been medicated against alopecia, and have a large area of ​​baldness, it is impossible for me to make new hair sprout, without a definitive solution such as hair cloning.

  24. the more the merrier but maybe all these companies will be too late , because im beginning to think that verteporfin might be the real deal, Dr Baghoutis small trial so far has shown that hair follicles regenerate, he was able to achieve 100% regeneration plus wound healing after extracting a single follicle. We need more hair transplant doctora doing experiments with verteporfin to see if they can replicate these results on a larger set of follicles. While i think hair cloning will be the permanent cure, this could be an interim treatment to have essentiallly an unlimited supply of donor extractions. Admin, you should follow Dr Baghouti i can post a link to his thread if anyone is interested.

  25. Once they show a legit nw6 to nw1 then I’ll get excited…..I know how this all pans out….I hope tsuji shows us a real hair cloning solution…

  26. We need as many hair multiplication approaches to be commercialised as soon as possilbe: that will bring prices down. There has been speculation that Tsuji’s method may initally retail as high as 300K dollars: well, we will see. It has to be proved to work and be safe first. But anything like that will obviously be out of the question for the great majority of people. All new technologies are expensive to start with: it takes the magic of competition and the market to bring down prices and make it accessible to the mass of people. I’m now wearing hair systems (I no longer have enough hair for a transplant). I live in hope that in ten years or so I can get bio hair back. It will come: just a question of time.

  27. I think this will be the first real cure, and it will be available in only 3 short years. Fukuda will be probably as fast. When you think of it, it’s even more than a cure: you could have more hair than you had as a 16-year-old: denser, lower hairline, etc. An endless supply.

    It’s pretty clear though that it will be expensive and there will be only limited numbers of patients. At least in the beginning. Having two strong contenders is crucial therefore.

    The third in the game, Stemson, is a bit of a letdown. They are soon entering their 6th (!) year of existence. They started with following statements:

    „Our new protocol described today overcomes key technological challenges that kept our discovery from real-world use“

    „Now we have a robust, highly controlled method for generating natural-looking hair that grows through the skin using an unlimited source of human iPSC-derived dermal papilla cells. This is a critical breakthrough in the development of cell-based hair-loss therapies and the regenerative medicine field.”

    So they had the tech already in 2019? What have they done since?

    It’s certainly not an easy task, but still a major disappointment. I hope they come up with some big announcements soon, or they are the next failure.

      1. Exactly lol people don’t realise that Terskikh has been in the game longer and only now talking about clinical trials. But I do agree I feel like 2026-2028 are going to be special years.

        1. I would have to double-check, but if I remember correctly Terskikh‘s first papers regarding hair research are from 2011. Let that sink in.

  28. I’m not so convinced yet. We know Dr. Tsuji got it to work in mice (so did Stemson Therapeutics) but now from mice jumping to humans? With the pre-clinicals it seems that going from mice to a bigger mammal (and one with more similar skin to humans) is the barometer to see if a therapy is likely to work. Did Dr. Tsuji do that and I am just not aware? I was happy that Epibiotech succeeded in their pig studies but am not happy that they didn’t allow for longer periods of time to see if the hairs were able to cycle and regrow. Unfortunately that is a process that takes years of patience. I hope they will try again with this approach. The thing I’m worried about is Dr. Tsuji might succeed in growing hairs in people but then the hairs will fail to cycle continually in them.

  29. So there starting human trials next year maybe the following year? Do you think we will be notified if and when Dr tsuji starts human trials? Do you think Dr tsuji is really going to do this for 2026?

  30. The end of hair loss will happen one day, that I don’t doubt, but when…who knows? Ask ChatGPT before it takes your job. Obviously it’s just plain speculative at this point. Maybe in our lifetime, maybe not? I’m hopeful that one of these players with a card in the game will crack the riddle…eventually. Soonish would be better (I’m not getting any younger). In the meantime, it’s oral Min for dinner, quickly followed by a topical Fin nightcap and a sneaky Niz chaser. Nite.

      1. I always wonder where people always get this extreme price estimates from? There was never any offical mention regarding the price… Some antibody treatments can be this expensive but that doesn’t mean this one has to be that high. I was treated with antibody injections a few years ago and the injection price was much, much cheaper for example, only time will tell how expensive it will be.

      2. What a stupid comment. The treatment isn‘t out for years to come, yet random users on the internet know the price.

        Ludicrous.

  31. I couldn‘t find the statement for 6 clinical trials in the link (but Japanese translations are always horrendous).

    Is there further info on that? I see that it includes the teeth regeneration too, but that would make it 2 then…maybe they pursue several methods like Fukuda does too.

    1. Theo just emailed me and I think he meant hiring 6 scientists, not trials. Thanks for the great Pelage news too btw. Will update that post.

  32. I wanted to post in the Lowry-article but it seemed old and inactive to me, so here‘s Pelage Pharma news from their website:

    „Pelage Pharmaceuticals Announces $16.75M Series A Financing led by GV to Revolutionize Regenerative Medicine for Hair Loss
    Pioneers novel approach to restore the body’s natural ability to grow hair by reactivating dormant hair follicle stem cells.“

    „Early Phase I clinical data shows statistically significant stem cell activation in the hair follicles after one week of treatment with PP405“

    We already knew about the very potent financing round which was finalized last June, but the second statement is definitely the big news: they already started phase 1 trials.

  33. Of the 3 companies that were active in curing baldness or hair cloning (Fukuda, Tsuji and Stemson), Organtech is definitely the one that gave me the least confidence, their communications are always encouraging and short and promising deadlines, always using the word regeneration but without providing concrete data and always resorting to financial contributions which makes me think that it is only pure marketing not to say that it is something else… But on the other hand it is what we have left, I hope I am wrong or else wait and accept Stemson’s deadlines and wait for an alternative in that time.

  34. i dont want to burst anyone‘s bubble here but a lot of big pharma is suffering in terms of growth and revenue targets at the moment.

    If there was a slightest hope that this would be a cure: they would have paid billions of billions already.
    If i dont see a big name behind, i dont believe anything.

    1. My dear Mr. Egghead, I get your pessimism, but let‘s stick to the truth.

      OrganTech has a signed a strategic alliance and investment plan with Kobayashi Pharmaceuticals in 2023. Same applies to Fukuda and Rohto Pharma.

      The above stated cooperation with „OrganEcoTech“ (stock exchange listed) is also very likely tied to a financial investment. Mr. Kondo is doing his job: stable finances as opposed to their prior venture.

      Most endeavors in the area are well funded and also backed by big pharma (eg AbbVie) like Stemson, HopeMed, Kintor, Pelage, Amplifica, Technoderma.

      Please don’t spread wrong information, that doesn’t benefit anybody.

        1. I think it’s an up and down of emotions. People that are overly pessimistic one week turn up here hopeful the next (raises hand). And I get it, especially since (as we all know) being skeptical and not getting our hopes up is a very smart thing when the majority (nearly all) of the start ups in this field fail or end up being snake oil. There is hope and then results turn out terrible or the funding dries up or the timeline gets extended by a decade. So many setbacks. Just the nature of the industry.

          That said, we do need to stick to the facts. And remind ourselves that it doesn’t define us unless we let it. Some of the greatest inventors/authors (and so on) in history have been bald. We need to focus on bettering ourselves (mind and body) and when a cure comes (if it comes) it comes. Live our lives, basically. Don’t put it on hold waiting for a cure.

          1. Wise words in these past few posts and important true to try and keep a balanced perspective, but much easier said than done. Not everyone is able to rise above vanity and one’s appearance is something many want the ability to control, I’ve always thought of vitiligo as a comparable disease to AGA, and whilst everything you’ve said could equally be given as advice there it would seem more hollow no?

            1. Well, my perspective is unique I guess. I have several major long term illnesses. I’ve been near death multiple times. So while I’d rather not be bald, I got bigger issues. Not that I’m any better than anyone else – I wine about these failed trials more than anyone, probably (or I’m close to first place). I just end up taking a deep breath (sometimes post rant) and reminding myself there is more to life. It’s a roller coaster. I’m far from perfect. Just gotta keep trying and keep reminding myself it doesn’t define me – my lack of hair or these illnesses. It’s not easy.

              1. Fair enough, we’re all in this together I guess and have to try and cope and keep perspective the best way we know how. Here’s to many years of health to you!

                1. It’s normal to have ups and downs. We’re human. You’re right that we’re all in it together though. All on the same team. I get negative sometimes too.

                  Thanks for the health wishes. Back at you!

          2. And James, you are right… everything influences life, for those of us who suffer from alopecia at a very young age it is something that affects you psychologically but I had a transplant and with medication, thank God I am happy and I live my life happily but always I have the worry and fear of going through the same thing again and I would like to live in peace knowing that there is a cure, but it is true that life is beautiful and that we must enjoy it

        2. I assume that your comment refers directly to my Yoyo, I simply express what I feel and my perspective and always with respect towards others because this problem affects all readers of this page. You are right, at this moment I am pessimistic but realistic, I am not like you who thinks that an 80-year-old person with androgenetic alopecia who began to experience hair loss at 18 and 25 was completely bald, now at 80 years old he will receive an injection and he will recover his hair as if it were grass that grows on the ground because according to you, under his bald skin there are still all his follicles… You continue living in your world of light and color but I am going to continue commenting on what want just like you do.

          1. Alvaro my amigo lol. I have never said that life is full of colour and light. But this page is dedicated for discoveries and discussions on hair loss, I don’t see you commenting anything useful on the page except “this is at least 10 years away” “another failed start up”. Just like Marc’s comments, that don’t move us anywhere. I want to see something different, something that’s more productive. If you regurgitate the same boring statements over and over again, it gets tiring to read. So if it affects you that much just leave it be. I’m not saying everything is butterflies and rainbows but at least I comment on updates and new start ups and provide something new for the community. You just say the say the same thing but with a remix.

          2. And plus Alvaro I was commentating based on what Amplifica and Pelage were saying on their SCIENTIFIC STUDIES. No offence at all but I’d rather listen to their point of view than a random commenter on a hair loss blog.

            1. You know that I really appreciate your contributions and your work in searching for new updates on the Yoyo page friend, and as you know I only usually comment on the publications of Fukuda, Tsuji or Stemson, because their approach personally seems like the definitive cure to me, but I admit that new medications surely have the potential to become a cure for many types of people. I understand that people who only provide negative and skeptical comments about all the new advances bother you, but in my case, I prefer the advances in hair cloning over a solution based on medications, understand that I get angry and feel disappointed when for years I have We have been reading all of Fukuda’s studies and research and when we thought that in the end he was going to take the step to clinical trials, it was not what we expected…, just that. You know I appreciate your comments too.

  35. Biopsies of 80 year old scalp skin do in fact show intact miniaturized hair follicles in the presence of AGA. The issue is whether the reduced arrector pili muscle is an irreversible impediment to full regrowth. I’m beginning to think it is, but if not, a full-ish head of hair on an 80 year old whose been bald since 25 is not out of the question at all.

  36. guys, we didnt born pessimistic. Lets not forget that we all want the cure. It is just soo much damn history. i remember the show 99 and introducing finestirade. we all thought at that moment, hairloss would be a thing of the past and i was 14!!!!
    well look at me now with NW5 and stil wandering here.
    so u tell me shouldnt we deserve a bit of pessimism? and also someone working in pharma. i dont believe any these news unless big pharma signs official deal. because i know they have bilions of billions just want to have a cure… money is no object to them

    1. Big pharma companies don’t want to cure nothing, they just want us to keep on buying medicine for the rest of our life.
      If every disease out there would be cure they wouldn’t make any more profit, sounds evil? well guess what … we are evil, my only hope is ET.

  37. Not sure why everyone is so pessimistic here. Tsuji literally said he will start trials in 2024 and from what it seems like, he’ll be able to stick to it. Stemson is going to start clinical trials at the start of 2026. At the very least, we’ll know if we’re close very soon.

      1. Reply from Theo, who says that the below is at least a 90% accurate translation (he put some time into going through the audio and is not a native Japanese speaker):


        Usually speaks about her life like researcher.

        Key notes:
        – She became interested in regenerative medicine when she was in highschool and when she saw the Dolly the sheep.
        – At that time in Japan there very little research centers/labs for regenerative medicine, and there was one at University of Tsukuba, and she decide to continue her education there, but first year she failed to get at the university.
        – Next year Dr. Takashi Tsuji opened his lab and after graduating from University of Tsukuba she worked in Dr. Takashi Tsuji lab.
        – In 2012 they present to the world first groundbreaking research in mice for the first time and after that they started searching efficient methods using human imitation
        – At the beginning they had problems when they put the seed in the skin automaticaly skin will heal very fast and the hair can not came out from the skin, but after hard work they solved all those problems.
        – They proved the safety and effectivness of the whole concept, got all papers and documents for clinical trials and started to recruit people for clinical trials.
        – Organ Technologies back then was goverment funded and goverment was responsible for getting funds for clinical trials and with the spread of coronavirus goverment stopped whole project and they failed to get funding. At that time Miho Ogawa received rumors that classes will be stopped, people will get fired ( I didn’t get that part about what she is meaning, about the lab, university, company or)
        – She was one that activate the idea again to restart/rebrand the company and had deep conversation with Dr. Tsuji how to move on again.
        – Takashi Kondo speaks about how Dr. Takashi Tsuji ides and technology are highly original and that when he was introduced to him by Miho Ogawa, he felt that there is very strong competative edge there.
        – Takashi Kondo speaks about his experience in business, venture capital, raising funds and how much he learned over the past years working in this field.
        – Miho Ogawa spoked about how Takashi Kondo is very creative, smart and innovative business planner.
        – The interviewer is saying that both of them (Ogawa and Kondo) are writing new page in medicine today and asked Ogawa what is her current job.
        – Miho Ogawa explained that her current job is to create something that never existed on this world.

        1. And Fuji sent me the following:

          1) The reason for Organ Technologies’ bankruptcy was that it was unable to raise funds due to the new coronavirus.

          2) The company went bankrupt just before the recruitment of subjects.

          3) Aim for inexpensive regenerative medicine that anyone can receive.

          4) A new technology involves inserting threads into the hair follicle and using the threads as channels to create pores.

          1. Thanks for both translations from Theo and Fuji, excellent work.

            Seems like a lot of general blabla and some marketing shenanigans to hype up the company, I‘m fine with that.

            Fuji‘s points are very interesting though. „The company went bankrupt just before recruitment of subjects“ is probably the *single most ironic event* in the search for a cure over the past decades. Imagine they would have pulled through just a few more months with a positive result. I am very confident we all would have access to the tech by now…it’s actually laughable.

            The term „inexpensive“ in point 3 is a very welcomed change in the rhetoric compared to prior statements.

            Btw. threads are being used now by all cloning companies, they obviously all came to the same conclusion.

  38. Jumping back to Pelage for a second…………has the statement below from the Pelage website been removed or am I looking in the wrong place? “Early Phase I clinical data shows statistically significant stem cell activation in the hair follicles after one week of treatment with PP405.”

  39. New update from OrganTech CEO Takashi Kondo on Linkedin today:

    “We raised 4.3M US dollars fund through private placement in 2023. OrganTech restarted our business and R&D. In 2024, we made out licensing contracts and collaboration research contracts with some partners. Our revenue is going to reach over 4.6M in this year. We ‘re also going to conduct clinical research of hair follicles regeneration therapy and integration bio dental implants. Due to successful business development and research progress, we plan to raise further funding to aim for the next stage. Thanks for kindly support to our all partners.”

    https://www.linkedin.com/posts/takashi-kondo-6b6526111_we-raised-43m-us-dollars-fund-through-private-activity-7186545856114778112-qcM0

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