PolarityTE Skin Regeneration

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PolarityTE.

PolarityTE

This week, there has been some excitement about a new company named PolarityTE that is planning to regenerate human skin. Including fully functioning hair follicles. When I first saw the company’s website, I was not overly excited about such a start-up.

We already know of other established companies that have been working on skin regeneration or skin replacement technology for years. I thought about just mentioning PolarityTE in my next “brief items of interest” post in another week. Right next to a mention about L-Oreal’s EpiSkin and Matek’s EpiDerm that have also been in the news lately. Moreover, articles such as this one made the company sound sketchy to me, although I am no expert in the financial markets.

Skin and Hair Regeneration

However, upon fully reading a lengthy Utah newspaper article on this local company, I decided it was worth writing an entire post on this development. Their website is also quite detailed, and a few highly positive things stand out about PolarityTE:

  • The company’s young CEO, Dr. Denver Lough, was a plastic reconstruction surgeon at the respected Johns Hopkins Hospital.
  • The former head of the burn unit at Johns Hopkins, Dr. Stephen Milner (along with a few other colleagues), also moved over to the company’s headquarters at The University of Utah. Note that Dr. Milner previously also taught at the Uniformed Services University of the Health Sciences.
  • According to Dr. Lough, the company is “preparing to announce data that shows for the first time the ability to produce fully functioning, full-thickness skin with hair follicles in a swine model”. For once, a pig and not a rat!
  • In just a few more months, the company plans to conduct human studies at burn centers around the country. Commercial release is then planned for as soon as early next year.
  • Since the products are organic and autologous (“a combination of stem cells and biological growth factors”), no lengthy FDA clinical trials will be required.
  • On the PolarityTE website, one section has the following quote: “If successful in the burn market, we plan to explore entry into other markets, such as acute and chronic wounds, cosmetic/scar revisions, and hair regeneration“.

Note that PolarityTE’s ticker symbol is COOL (Update: no longer true). For more information, make sure to read the detailed investor presentation on their website.

Will skin regeneration happen before a cure for hair loss? Or does skin regeneration with fully functioning hair follicles automatically imply that both will occur at the same time? Or will neither happen in the near future?

101 thoughts on “PolarityTE Skin Regeneration”

  1. Norwood sevens rejoice, take a cheese grater to your heads and walk into their office and ask them to slap on some new skin

  2. I know it’s not really related but, the kelopesia cream was launched 2 months ago why aren’t you covering that admin? Not enough peer-reviewed studies? Just curious, thanks.

      1. what makes you so sure? The simple fact that it contains stem cells already makes it an interesting lotion at least.
        They don’t show amazing results, but it’s a start.

        1. It does not contain stem cells, the ingredients list no such ingredient. It’s just vitamins and minerals and other useless garbage.

          There are no clinical studies, no published data and no one who has verifiably regrown any hair because of it.

          Unacceptable coming from a university, of all places.

          1. Well aparently you’re right in saying that it doesnt contain stem cells, I stand corrected, but according to the post on follicle thought it does contain exosomes from the foreskin of newborns, sounds gross but the stuff is used extensively in cosmetic and aparently has, proved, anti aging capabilities.

      1. It actually was taken. It used to be a video game company, but they did a reverse merger and switched it into a regenerative medicine company. I have conflictive thoughts about this one. My balding self is enthusiastic. My financial self says short the crap out of it

      1. bright spot is that the writer(s) of the article are short the stock so they might be painting the picture a little worse than the company actually is to try and persuade other investors to short the stock, and since it is a small cap stock they could succeed…but the point is, they could be bias and they pointed out they are short to disclose that.

  3. I wonder weather regenerated skin and hair might still be susceptible to the underlying causes of MPB. Excited about this and love that it’s potentially releasing so soon! Follows the same logic as the wounding protocols so feels credible.

    1. Well if you take the skin cells from the back of the head (you need to take skin cells to have them cultured before they can 3d print and culture new skin for you) then the new hairs should be resistant.

      Easy.. really

  4. Finally a cure that won’t be trodden on by the money grubbing bastards at the FDA for years. I bet if other treatments didn’t have to go through that crap more researchers would take this more seriously instead of it always being a byproduct of some other treatment.
    Japan has the right idea.

  5. Are we 100% sure the FDA wont be able to get their hands on this?
    Transplanting skin or folicles seems like a rather involved process. Im really afraid FDA or some other agency will stick their nose in here and slow down the process

  6. If this company has a patent on their method, it seems like a good investment opportunity should we hear of some early success. Did anyone come across text regarding their exclusivity to this process?

  7. Great news! Seems like a respectable team – hard to imagine this is a ‘scam’. Though, I doubt this is going to be as ‘quick’ as we think. Maybe @admin should reach out to try and get an interview?

  8. Dr. Jeff Donovan:
    “Miniaturization can be seen in several conditions including traction alopecia, alopecia areata (shown here) as well as androgenetic alopecia.”

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BVCpkQXl6oM/?taken-by=donovanmedical

    “Miniaturization can be seen in several conditions including traction alopecia (shown here), alopecia areata as well as androgenetic alopecia.”

    https://www.instagram.com/p/BVFNnbUF-P4/?taken-by=donovanmedical

    Very interesting!
    Maybe AA and AGA (and even TA) can be treated by JAK. There might be more similarities than we think.

  9. This is a huge step forward in dermatology. Hair loss is bad but people who are burn victims and deformed have it much worse. I’m happy to see a cure is very close for them! I hope the fda doesn’t stall this successful advancement. This also proves that wounding is an effective method. Could this new treatment be used on scar tissue from donor sites for ht. If so this could provide unlimited follicles for ht procedures right? How can this treatment help us mpb sufferers?

  10. Here is a patient who has AA and AGA:

    A big difference, however, they still have work to do to fill in the crown area. I don’t know what kind of drugs this clinic uses.

  11. I wouldn’t say his hair is completely regrown by any means. He got good regrowth for sure but that’s not complete regrowth even in the good areas that growth. He got coverage which is great but not full thickness.

  12. Guys,

    Is it just me or is it finally feeling like the end of this miserable ‘desease’ is near? I don’t wanna be too optimistic, but in the 2 years (I know, not very long) of experiencing this and following the news on it I finally have the feeling we are getting there. The last few months I was really trying to prepare myself mentally for a bald head (still am) but I can’t shudder this feeling.

    1. Unfortunately, I’ve felt an unfounded positive vibe every 2 years for the past 12 years. I’m used to disappointment and ineptitude of the industry, but I pray it’ll be different for you!

    2. None of this is new. Fighting baldness for 20+ years and every few years we thought we solved something. Hate to be pessimistic but we still have min and fin. The health regulations and big pharmaceuticals will continue to make anything difficult to make it to market. One would be better off with Hep C or HIV nowadays.

    3. It’s starting to look that way. I keep looking into it, but there was never a point in history that had as many companies (working from the cellular level) to grow hair, in clinical trials, getting positive results, etc. as there are now.

      I definitely think at least one of them will be the hero we need and deserve.

      I only noticed and started treating hairloss a year ago and I was sure there was just no hope at the time.

  13. Polarityte = Hope for eggheads (totally bald on all the scalp) ???

    I speak french usually. I’m not sure how to interpret correctly this sentence: “regenerate human skin (including fully functioning hair follicles). ”

    It’s a cure for guys with 0 hairs? Or guys need some heathly hairs?

  14. (Best guess) Ithink closest thing is replicel/shiseido in 2019 but it will be quite expensive to travel to japan then histogen in mexico and fidia later in 2019-20.

    Tsuji 2022-4? Will be most expensive of them all. Def more than FUT.

  15. Targeting of CXXC5 by a Competing Peptide Stimulates Hair Re-growth and Wound-Induced Hair Neogenesis.

    Lee SH1, Seo SH1, Lee DH1, Pi LQ2, Lee WS2, Choi KY3.
    Author information
    Abstract
    The Wnt/β-catenin pathway has been implicated in hair follicle development and hair regeneration in adults. We discovered that CXXC-type zinc finger protein 5 (CXXC5) is a negative regulator of the Wnt/β-catenin pathway involved in hair re-growth and wound-induced hair follicle neogenesis (WIHN) via an interaction with Dishevelled (Dvl). CXXC5 was up-regulated in miniaturized hair follicles and arrector pili muscles in human balding scalps. The inhibitory effects of CXXC5 on alkaline phosphatase activity and cell proliferation were demonstrated using human hair follicle dermal papilla cells. Moreover, CXXC5-/- mice displayed accelerated hair re-growth and treatment with valproic acid, a glycogen synthase kinase 3β inhibitor that activates the Wnt/β-catenin pathway, further induced hair re-growth in the CXXC5-/- mice. Disrupting the CXXC5-Dvl interaction with a competitor peptide activated the Wnt/β-catenin pathway and accelerated hair re-growth and WIHN. Overall, these findings suggest that the CXXC5-Dvl interaction is a potential target for treatment of hair loss.

  16. If you google “CXXC5”, a lot of research shows up regarding its role as a WNT inhibitor. Surprised this focus on CXXC5 and its impact to hair loss wasn’t connected earlier. WNT remains a hot topic focus for hair loss.

    1. http://lookism.net/Thread-Cover-your-head-in-Valproic-Acid-theory-and-why-Zinc-is-bad-for-baldness

      DHT binds to Androgen Receptor (AR), AR translocates from cytoplasm into nucleus, target genes are activated = hairloss

      B-catenin antagonises the AR, when AR is in nucleus B-catenin is located in cytoplasm, when B-catenin is in nucleus AR receptor is in cytoplasm. B-catenin in nuceus, target genes of B-catenin activated = hair growth.

      Gsk-3b binds to B-catenin and leads to its degradation, therefore B-catenin can’t activate target genes = no hair growth

      Valproic Acid (VPA) inhibits Gsk-3b, B-catenin can now move into nucleus and we get hair growth.

  17. I really have the feeling that it just cant be a coincidence? So many companies and so many possible treatments to end the hair loss nightmare? There have never been so many possible treatments. I mean is it possible that there was something (pharma indsutry) that blocked all the potential treatments? And now out of nothing it seems that hair loss will be history in a few years.

      1. I feel the same too. I understand some of the readers here who have been waiting many years and have seen many options fail may find it difficult to be hopeful, but I agree we’ve never had so many avenues of research going at one time and new discoveries popping up this frequents. Plus wider avenues like stem cell research and gene therapy are growing exponentially so it really isn’t that unrealistic to have expectations for at least a functional cure in the coming few years :)

    1. Not possible “cures”,but a lot of new income methods and treatments for big industries. I don’t think that it will be a one time story, just more like better treatments over a long endless period of time and combining products to get somehow hairs back or endless transplantations until all haira that have been gone are transplanted back and maintained with the new treatments

  18. @Admin – I had emailed hairstetics for more info on their hair implants and thought I would share their response:

    ‘Hairstetics hair implantation is suitable for male too. This treatment is long-lasting but not permanent. The duration will vary according to several parameters but you can count it in years.
    There’s no maintenance or replacement required. Once the implants are implanted you can immediately go back to your normal life.
    If you desire, for any reasons, to remove the implants it is possible. The treatment is reversible.
    We do not have yet clinics in London.’

    1. This is extremely interesting. You can see a lot of potential with this. Also design the hair on your scalp the way you want it.

  19. Jay I heard those were causing serious side effects in the scalp. Infections and inflammation. It sounds like a good approach but how would you cut your hair? You would have to avoid cutting the artificial implants because they won’t grow back longer. Better off with a ht, real hair and it cycles like normal.

    1. I did think about that. I have a shaved head with SMP so it’s not really an option for me as it’s for guys who have hair with thinning patches. You would just have your hair cut as normal and as your own hair grows you re-cut etc. Seems like implants need to be replaced after a few years anyway. Infection/inflammation was also a concern I had as I’m not sure how the scalp copes with a foreign object implanted, would the skin even heal properly around it? What’s interesting is that the anchor is apparently 2.5 x the strength of human hair. If I found this a few years ago this might have been perfect for me before I got SMP.

        1. Slick I used SKALP and went to their London clinic (they have a few around the world). Highly recommend them as my results are perfect.

          1. Thank you Jay. I remember being impressed by client photos they posted. I just needed some direction in choosing a clinic, so that helps. Thanks again.

  20. Guys I think I just stumbled upon something big. I am following Dr Bhanusali’s page on instagram and he just posted an instagram story where he posted the picture of a guy getting a hair treatment and it was written the following “PRP plus a little secret to get some new follicles (little smiley emote with zipped up mouth)”

    Remember that this is the doctor that posted pictures about being one of the dermatologist involved with Follica a few months ago!!

    1. Looks like this project will also be applied to improve their own hair loss treatment! Very positive news!

  21. I’m expecting to have treatment in 2020 hopefully without disappointment.. if there is options available in 2018 or 2019 i’m going to be shocked.

    1. 2017 just passes by without any product release, so another horrible year, despite all the promising studies. 2 postdocs on maternity leave, and they have to postpone research/product launch again. Not meeting a deadline is the standard in research.

      It would be a bad joke if a lot of treatments come to the market at the same time (2018) as Follicle Thought estimates. It just looks like they take their time to refine because the competition is not launching anything onto market. Which is weird, because Japan will all make them obsolete.

      1. it’s been almost exactly one year that Shiseido/Replicel started it’s 60 man trial in Japan. Replicel CEO said many months ago Shiseido’s big moment will be at ‘the last quarter of 2018’

        So Shiseido if it works is definitely a 2019 product.

  22. I’m curious why some of you believe an effective treatment will be available 2018? I need to smoke or whatever these guys are doing. Did I miss something. I don’t thing ANYONE is in phase 3. I wish that were the case but I would bet my house nothing available in 2018.

    1. Shiseido could be out late next year (2019 is probably more likely) and Follica is planning to start their pivotal trial this quarter.

      Those are the only two treatments with a possibility of being out next year.

  23. Why does Polaris get to come to market so fast and the hair loss companies have to go through 10 years of trials. ? Why so many challenges to market for hair loss treatment. Polaris is sounds complex and advance with regeneration. Shouldn’t that take 10 years? I’m confused

      1. I see. Isn’t histogen organic and mix of growth factors ? Or maybe histogen just doesn’t work and that’s why they take so long lol

  24. Sorry to go off topic. Does anyone know much about zinc at about 50-100mg a day being used as a dht blocker? Something strange has happened to my hair as of late. It has completely stopped shedding but i have noticed the hair shafts are much thinner then they were a year or so ago. Could this finally be me getting stabalized? I am using the big 3 plus retin a, amino acid power, 50-60mg zinc, oral melatonin and rhodanide scalp spray

    1. I’ve had significant regrowth from zinc but I didn’t document with photos so hard to tell 100%. Also it could have been a zinc deficiency rather than it blocking DHT. But there is reason to think zinc can help.

      1. Zinc is not a dht inhibitor, if anything i think it can make hairloss worse – it increases testosterone, which could increase dht. I think the only way it would help is if you had a zinc deficiency.
        Bodybuilders apparently supplement with zinc to help with gains. Just do a quick google search and its listed as a way to increase T.

        1. Yes however some of the studies i have read suggest it converts dht back into t. And also that is either a dht type 1 inhibitor or a 5ar type 1 inhibitor. I cant remember, i will try to find the study. My dermatologist has recommended it and says he has seen great results with people

    2. when i was young i spent $3,000 on all natural regimin outlined on mpbresearch.org – nothing happened, the owner of that site also told me he doesn’t make any commissions – he does.

      terrible human being, I feel sad for my younger me – that stuff helps slow down hairloss barrely if at all. I didn’t notice anything anyway. Certainly no regrowth – by any stretch of the imagination

  25. i am using Nizoral shampoo one time in a week, and DCL T shampoo during the rest of the week. the day after using the DCL T or NIZORAL my scalp is calm, but they day after the itching starts and is hurting more than it was before starting NIZORAL, also sebum comes back in a strong manner.

  26. As usual, AGA’s photo is distorted by the angle. How would I see the improvment with this huge gap between both ?

  27. The patient has a birth mark on the left, which is a good reference point. There is definitely an improvement.

    Anyone already ordered Reboost? Experiences?

  28. Do not buy this reboost scam. The admin of folliclethought is a clown who offers coupon codes to buy these turkish scam clown products.

    NEVER buy it. If you ask this clown a question on the comment section, he will delete your comment.

    1. Maybe there’s a financial reason he’s promoting Reboost. Similar things happened in the past with people claiming to be reviewing a product then it turns they’re receiving a sales commision.
      Be vigilant, people.

  29. @i will buy it. Minoxidil ans finasteride don’t work for me…what a shame…i need something new and effective it’s easy.

  30. Great news guys!

    Proxofim ( FOXO4-DRI ) works against AGA an Darren Moore >>> But beware of the risks!

    http://nos.nl/artikel/2178506-onderzoeker-waarschuwt-verjongingsmiddel-nog-niet-veilig-voor-mensen.html

    https://www.rtlnieuws.nl/gezondheid/onderzoeker-waarschuwt-middel-voor-verjonging-nog-niet-geschikt-voor-mensen

    Peter de Keizer says that in general, the current testing phases drugs have to go through, take too long. Three clinical studies are too much. It’s not realistic because reality is catching up on them (scientists). Patients won’t wait and start experimenting themselves. Science is watching from the sideline while people take care of their issues themselves. He wants to test on people after max. 3 years from now, he wants to prevent patients take too many risks.

      1. 10gr 820$ and nobody knows how much he you need. We have to wait a little bit until we know more about it and the prices drop like seti and Ru, but would be nice if we get more information about it

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