BosleyMD, Elevai Labs, Mitochondria, Mitochondrial Function, Yuva Biosciences

Yuva Biosciences and BosleyMD New Mitochondrial Upregulation Foam

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I covered Yuva Biosciences (US) very briefly in 2018 in my post on mice and hair growth research. The company founder Dr. Keshav Singh’s team from the University of Alabama reversed skin wrinkles and regrew hair in mice via reversing mitochondrial dysfunction. Also see my other 2018 post about mitochondria and hair and my 2017 post on mitochondrial metabolism and hair growth.

February 27, 2024

Yuva Biosciences and BosleyMD Release New Hair Loss Foam Product

On February 20 2024, Yuva Biosciences successfully raised $7.5 million in seed funding (led by VentureSouth). More importantly, it recently released its mitochondrial upregulation related hair loss product in partnership with BosleyMD. The separate (but related) Bosley is the most renowned name in the world of hair transplant chains. A newer summary of this development was posted by reader “Fynn” yesterday.

Bosley CEO Dr. Ken Washenik declared that:

“We believe this is one of the biggest innovations in hair loss we’ve seen in twenty-five years.”

Revive+ Densifying Foam

Yuva Biosciences BosleyMD Revive+ Hair Loss
Yuva Biosciences BosleyMD Revive+ Foam for Hair Loss.

The new topical product is called “Revive Plus Densifying Foam” and it incorporates Yuva Bio’s Y100 trademarked technology (YuvaBio® Y100™). It contains the Amla plant and up-regulates key genes that restore mitochondrial function. In the process hair loss is reduced and hair regrowth is possible.

It is now available for sale on Amazon (image on right) at a price of $44 for a 2-month supply. The current 20 reviews with an average rating of 3.9 out of 5 stars praise the product’s ease of application, non-irritation and non-greasiness. Also see the announcement on Linkedin.

Yuva Biosciences developed this topical foam based hair loss product as follows:

“Using AI, the company combed through thousands of molecules to identify those with the greatest potential to boost mitochondria levels in skin and hair cells, leading to the discovery of its lead compound, Y100.”

Among the ingredients in this product include terminalia chebula extract, biotin, asparagus racemosus root powder, and leuconostoc/radish root ferment.

Also of significance, the Y100 mitochondrial function restoration lead compound molecule is just the first to market. Yuva will continue to use AI to develop other molecules that target mitochondrial dysfunction in order to combat hair loss.

Interestingly, Yuva is also partnering with Elevai Labs, one of the leading suppliers of exosomes to the hair growth market. Note that BosleyMD also sells a popular Follicle Energizer product that contains hair friendly natural ingredients such as caffeine, biotin and soy.

Dr. Keshav Singh

Dr. Keshav Singh is the Chief Scientific Officer and Co-Founder of Yuva Biosciences. He is a Harvard-trained researcher, the founding Editor-in-Chief of the journal Mitochondrion, and the author of over 100 scientific studies on mitochondria. Dr. Singh is active on Twitter (X) via @mitoscientist. Also check out @YuvaBio.

For a long time it has been known that mitochondrial dysfunction is a key factor in aging. However, Dr. Singh was the first to discover and prove experimentally that mitochondrial dysfunction is a key cause of hair and skin aging. I discussed his groundbreaking 2018 study in my earlier mentioned post on mice hair growth research.

Company co-founder and CEO Greg Schmergel is an accomplished entrepreneur. Also working with them is Dr. Shekhar Mitra, a past Senior Vice President of Corporate Innovation at Procter & Gamble.

The Y100 mitochondrial technology was identified using Yuva’s advanced artificial intelligence platform called “MitoGPT”. This was co-developed by Dr. Keshav Singh and Dr. Jeb Linton (an IBM data scientist).

Update: December 9, 2024

Elevai Labs and Yuva Biosciences Launch Root Renewal System

Elevai Labs (US) just announced the launch of its S-Series Root Renewal System™ for the hair care market (h/t “Nick”) via its wholly owned subsidiary, Elevai Skincare. The Root Renewal System is a 3-part hair and scalp care system consisting of a shampoo, conditioner and serum. It combines the latest in patent pending exosome and mitochondrial technology to target scalp health and hair growth at the cellular level. The initial launch will focus on medical aestheticians. A broader consumer rollout is planned for the US in January 2025.

Elevai Labs is one of the world’s leading suppliers of topical exosomes for the hair growth market. The Root Renewal System incorporates two proprietary technologies from Elevai Labs and Yuva Biosciences (US).

  1. Elevai PREx Exosomes™.
  2. The Y100™ small molecule from Yuva Biosciences that improves mitochondrial function. I discussed YuvaBio® Y100™ in the original version of this post above due to the February 2024 launch of the Revive+ Densifying Foam via a BosleyMD and Yuva Biosciences partnership.
Androgen Receptors, AnHorn Medicines, Anti-Androgen, Aranda Pharma

AnHorn Medicines and Aranda Pharma: Targeting Androgen Receptors

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During the past two years, the number one area of new product development in the hair loss world has entailed the targeting of scalp androgen receptors. Coincidentally, I wrote a post in 2020 that was titled “Destroying Androgen Receptors on the Scalp“.

This is different from the go to 5α-reductase inhibitor hair loss drugs such as Dutasteride and Finasteride, which reduce dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels.

Balding is caused by DHT binding to scalp androgen receptors, leading to hair follicle miniaturization. Many people have high levels of DHT, but lack the androgen receptor (AR) gene(s) and therefore never go bald. Balding scalps also contain higher levels of androgen receptors compared to non-balding scalps.

Androgen Receptor Targeting for Hair Loss

Among the leading companies that have developed new androgen receptor (AR) targeting products include:

  • Androgen receptor inhibitor Breezula (Clascoterone) from Cosmo Pharmaceuticals (Ireland). Currently in Phase 3 trials.
  • Androgen receptor antagonist Pyrilutamide (KX-826) from Kintor Pharmaceutical (China). Currently in Phase 3 trials, although they released a cosmetic spray version in 2024. The assigned cosmetic ingredient name is Methylpyridinyl Fluoromethoxybenzonitrile Dimethyloxothiooxoimidazolidine.
  • Androgen receptor degrader GT20029 from Kintor Pharmaceutical (China). Phase 3 trials are planned in China in 3Q 2025, with the US six months later.
  • Androgen receptor inhibitor OLX104C from Olix Pharmaceuticals (South Korea). Completed Phase 1 trials in Australia earlier this year.
  • Androgen receptor silencer CosmeRNA from Bioneer (South Korea). This product was released as a cosmetic in 2023 and is also known a SAMiRNA AR68.

We now have two new companies to add to the above list: AnHorn Medicines (Taiwan) and Aranda Pharma (Finland). However, neither is advanced enough in its clinical trial process to warrant significant interest for the time being.

AnHorn Medicines AH-001: Androgen Receptor Degrader

In November 2024, AnHorn Medicines (Taiwan) received US FDA Investigational New Drug (IND) clearance for its novel protein degrader program (h/t “John Doe”). AH-001 is described as:

“A novel, topically applied protein degrader, designed to selectively target and degrade the androgen receptor, a known driver of several challenging dermatological and hair loss disorders.”

Phase 1 clinical trials are expected to begin in the US by the end of 2024. Check out their pipeline page for more details.

Aranda Pharma ADA-308: Androgen Receptor Inhibitor

Aranda Pharma (Finland) is developing an androgen receptor inhibitor product called ADA-308 to tackle androgenetic alopecia (AGA) and acne. Below is an image from their site showing the mechanism of action of ADA-308 for both acne and AGA.

Aranda Pharma ADA-308 Androgen Receptor
Aranda Pharma ADA-308: Androgen Receptor Inhibitor for Acne and Androgenetic Alopecia. Source: Company Website.

In August 2024, Aranda Pharma in collaboration with Vancouver Prostate Centre (Canada) published an article in the journal Oncology Reports titled:

“Targeting adenocarcinoma and enzalutamide-resistant prostate cancer using the novel anti-androgen inhibitor ADA-308”

The results demonstrated the efficacy of ADA-308 in inhibiting prostate cancer cell growth.

Anti-Androgens

Note that for decades, there have already existed many anti-androgens that target the androgen receptors to combat hair loss. All of the popular anti-androgens that are used for hair growth purposes are also classified as AR antagonists. Among the ones that I have covered on this blog include Bicalutamide, Flutamide and Fluridil, RU-58841 and Spironolactone.

However, all of these anti-androgens are likely much weaker at destroying the androgen receptor strength in comparison to the newer products being developed specifically for that purpose.