Questions for Dr. Alexey Terskikh

I have covered Dr. Alexey Terskikh (who works at the Sanford-Burnham Medical Research Institute in California) a few times in the past on this blog before. My main post on him and his pluripotent stem cell related work from almost exactly two years ago can be read here.

Recently, commentator “Sets” has contacted me a few times in order to see if I, with his help, can set up an interview with Dr. Terskikh. “Sets” is in regular touch with Dr. Terskikh on Facebook and has been acting as the in-between contact person between myself and the doctor/researcher.

I tried to contact Dr. Terskikh several times in the past, but he never responded until recently (and that to an e-mail I sent him 7 months ago after “Sets” asked him to look for it!). It seems like the doctor is easier to contact via Facebook, which I have not used in 1.5 years, so “Sets” is doing the grunt work for us. Please do not e-mail Dr. Terskikh as I am sure he gets 100s of them every day and is highly unlikely to respond in any great detail if at all.

In any event, if you have any questions that you want to ask Dr. Terskikh, please post them in the comments to this post and I will pick the most scientific/technical ones as well as the most interesting non-technical ones to ask him. Of course his willingness to respond will be dependent upon “Sets” much more so than upon myself:-(

On Twitter Dr. Terskikh has mentioned the need to raise $3 million to $5 million in funding in order to proceed with his team’s groundbreaking stem cell based hair growth related research. In his recent e-mail to me, he said they need $1 million to “quickly complete all preclinical studies and move into clinic“. As most us know, hair related research and clinical trial funding are never even a remote priority for governments, universities or scientific institutions. If any of the readers of this blog is super wealthy, maybe give away $1 million to Dr. Terskikh to speed things up for all of us.

21 thoughts on “Questions for Dr. Alexey Terskikh”

  1. So because of lack of funding, no progress on their part has been made since your initial post 2 years ago?

    Can anyone briefly explain how this is different from Tsuji or Tissuse?

  2. Are there any updates on tsuji at all? I haven’t been paying attention for a while but it looks as if that is a negatory.

    1. @H,

      They reiterated a couple of months ago that trials are still scheduled to begin in 2018, and a 2020 release in Japa is still on target, which is about as good of news as we’re going to get before any actual clinical work gets started.

  3. Oh okay well that’s good Tsuji Haircell and that Smart Hair Transplant company are about the only ones I’m focused on. This Terskikh guy sounds cool and all but way behind the curve in my opinion. Alot of maintenance treatments are supposedly maybe coming out like RAIN which is awesome for people with okay coverage but I’m not gonna have much hair to save by then so hair cloning is my solution.

    1. I’m right there with you..hair cloning is the holy grail and what I’m waiting for as by the time a treatment comes out I won’t have much hair remaining!

  4. Will they keep using ESCs or switch to IPSCs?
    Do the DPs they created show similar gene expression to ordinary, healthy DPs? Do they maintain it when multiplied by 3 orders of magnitude?
    In what form/structure do they plan to introduce the cells to the skin?

    Mr Terskikh’s research was what got me looking into hair regeneration research a couple years back, around the time I discovered this blog admin. Tbh I had given up hope for this team by now but maybe I was wrong. We’ll see.

  5. Hairclone is ready to start cloning right now! They just don’t have 5 million….

    Alexey very similar….

    Its incredible… we are not financially mobilized or united. Or organized. If everyone banded together we could have cured our own disease.

    I’m thinking about starating a website to crowd fund a brochure to venture capital funds. This is a crime that these scientist have no funding

    1. Why don’t you ask your pals at Thorn Medical to sponsor some real research. Seriously why don’t they hire Alexey to bring hair loss cure to Bahamas. It’ll be cheap and pass crazy regulations in US.

      1. That does sound like a good idea if they weren’t so sketchy. I’ll email them about it. I have no faith in thorn anymore. Money talks but not in their case

  6. Reported in The Daily Telegraph just now:

    Trump promises to slash regulation for pharmaceutical companies by ‘up to 80 per cent’
    Mr Trump is meeting with pharmaceutical executives, writes Nick Allen.

    He said: “We’re going to be cutting regulations more than anyone has ever seen. Instead of being 9,000 pages it can be 100 pages.

    “We have companies where they have more people working on regulation than working for the company.

    “I’ll oppose anything that makes it harder for younger companies to bring their product to the market.

    “We can save tens of billions of dollars. We have to get lower prices, we’re going to get innovation and I want you to move your companies back to the US.”

    He said regulations could be cut “up to 80 per cent, that’s what you need”.

    Mr Trump said he would be “streamlining” the Federal Drug Administration.

    He said: “You’ll get your product approved or not approved but it will happen quickly, it won’t take 15 years.”

  7. @cris: no more subliminal publicity…thanks. and..in another hand IMHO…i don’t understand why we don’y have a better alternatives to current treatments…it’s 2017 and we use 80’s and 90’s treatments. Sad. Very sad.

  8. My questions are:

    Since your hair growth announcement in mice in January 2015, what have been the developments in your research so far? Any more important information to report?

    Was it possible to grow hair on a human skin graft or only in mice?

    In a very optimistic scenario raising funds for the clinical phase today, what is the most optimistic period for the beginning of the clinical phase?

    Has the clinical phase started, what is the minimum time to market in a very optimistic scenario? Do you believe that the new legislation that encourages regeneration could speed up commercialization?

    Do you think the technique can meet up to how many people a year in a clinic?

    How do I donate specifically for your hair regeneration research?

    As for the deadlines I always ask about the most optimistic because there is a minimum deadline that can not be faster than this, but that may give us some basis on the deadlines.

  9. Questions:

    • Are you using embryonic stem cells still and if so do you feel the “ethical issues” surrounding them will pose a problem?

    • Are you aware of the other hair multiplication procedures like Tsuji, Hairclone and TissUse? If so, how does your method compare and what might possibly make it a superior option scientifically and commercially?

    • Where do you plan to begin clinical trials? Do you plan to take advantage of countries with more lenient stem cell laws like Japan and the USA’s 21st Century Cures Act?

    • What aspects of hair growth do you believe you will be able to control? (Shaft thickness, direction, etc.)

    • What are the scientific hurdles you currently face and how do you plan to solve them?

    • How do you plan to administer the treatment? A proprietary device?

    • Have you settled on a company name, CEO, etc?

    • In a best case scenario, what year do you feel is a possible release date for any potential treatment spawned from this research?

    Last question is a personal one and I can understand if you wouldn’t ask it, but I really would like an opinion on it.

    • Few in the medical field are concerned with developing a treatment for the various alopecias despite an age of incredible advancements in science, medicine and technology with increasing focus on mental health. Baldness is a subject of ridicule and prejudice in society with its patients left to suffer in silence; seen as vain and narcissistic for even considering treating the problem, but at once shamed for their balding. It is especially traumatic for young patients.

    What are your personal thoughts on the subject in general, societal attitudes toward alopecia and how do they affect your motivations to bring an effective solution to the world?

  10. Does your method work on guard hair and primary hair? Since AGA occurs in guard hair first followed finally by the miniaturization of terminal hair

    Does your method induce de-novo induction of follicular units, not just individual hair follicles?

  11. guys I am just sorry but I dont believe they are holding the cure acause they dont have 5 million…
    I have been in pharma and working in supply chain .. I can assure you, if i have the cure right now big pharma would be tearing down my door..
    pharmas are crazy about cures right now… do you know patents are expiring and the gap between big pharma and local are closing everyday….. they have to come up innovative medicines…
    again the things is they have enough money, just show them the treatment

  12. My question to Dr. Terskikh: When the treatment will be available?

    A question for all of you: What happens with new treatments?Minox and fin don’t work for me…Thanks in advance.

  13. Are you actively seeking venture capital?

    Given the competition claims to be @ market by 2018 2019 2020 Have you considered merging or selling out Ip to corporations who can move the technology forward?

    How successful have you been in attracting capital so far?

    Do you have a strategy to propel this technology to be @ market before or during 2020?

    If this technology did arrive to market can the company scale up on demand or will it be a slow process that will take years to decades to scale?

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