I cover Stemson Therapeutics (or its founder Dr. Alexey Terskikh, or its CEO Geoff Hamilton) at least several times a year. This company represents the leading hope for a hair multiplication related hair loss cure. Among the highlights:
- In 2015, I covered Dr. Terskikh and his team’s success in growing human hair in mice.
- In 2017, I interviewed Dr. Terskikh.
- In 2018, I discussed the at-the-time newly registered company Stemson Therapeutics.
- In 2021, I covered an interview of Geoff Hamilton.
I now just update this comprehensive post twice a year rather than write a separate one each time.
Stemson Therapeutics: 2022 Updates
Update: December 30, 2022 — Stemson’s Director of Histology and Pathology Dr. Allan Dovigi wrote an interesting post on Linkedin that has so far received only one comment. I like his enthusiasm on the speed of progress in organ regeneration and medicine in general. Key quote with slight changes by me:
“At Stemson Therapeutics we are growing hair follicles for transplantation in our patients with alopecia. We are removing the barriers to the cell’s genetic programs and switching them back on to allow regeneration of the original tissues and anatomy. I can observe all the histology of the regenerated hair follicles, epithelial root sheath around hair shafts, dermal papilla, sebaceous glands and pilar erector muscle. I find it simply amazing. Peering through my microscope has never been more exciting.”
It is very interesting that he mentions the crucial to hair (but usually ignored) arrector pilli muscle. He predicts that humans will be able to regenerate entire organs going forward, so organ transplants will become obsolete. Note that Stemson currently has 25 employees with Linkedin accounts.
Update: November 20, 2022 — VP Meghan Samberg presented on Stemson’s iPSC-derived cell therapy approach for hair follicle regeneration at the World Congress for Hair Research in Australia.
Update: October 25, 2022 — Interesting new interview with CEO Geoff Hamilton. Key quote:
“We’re trying to get our first product into clinic, which is an autologous cell therapy-based approach to bioengineering hair follicles. It is probably going to be at least a couple of more years before we feel we’re really ready.”
Update: February 12, 2022 — Joe Tillman and Spencer Kobren have released three mini-interview videos of Stemson CEO Geoff Hamilton. Parts 2 and 3 are the most important:
Update: February 1, 2022 — Stemson just hired Dr. Kapil Bharti and Dr. George Murphy to its scientific advisory board. Both seem to be renowned scientists in the world of regenerative medicine and stem cell research.
Update: January 18, 2022 — Mr. Hamilton is covered in a new MIT Technology article titled: “Going bald? Lab-grown hair cells could be on the way.”
Alexey Terskikh and Geoff Hamilton
Update: December 2021 — Stemson founder Alexey Terskikh just co-authored an interesting new paper titled “The rise of induced pluripotent stem cell approach to Hair Restoration.”
“Combined with robotics and automation of the transplantation process, this novel regenerative medicine approach is well poised to make hair restoration a routine procedure affordable for everybody who can benefit from it. At present, it seems that the generation of DP cells through the neural crest intermediate has the lowest barrier to enter the clinical trials in the next few years.”
Note that Dr. Hamilton also gave the keynote address at the recent Global Hair Loss Summit.
Update: October 12, 2021 — Presentation at the Alliance for Regenerative Medicine’s “Meeting on the Mesa”:
Update: September 1, 2021 — Market Knowledge podcast interview with Geoff Hamilton. Make sure to watch the video in there.
Update: July 15, 2021 — Stemson covered on the news by local San Diego ABC News affiliate:
Update: October 2020 — The ISHRS interviewed Dr. Alexey Terskikh on video.
Update: September 2020 — Stemson just got another $7.5 million in funding from Allergan and Fortunis Capital. h/t reader “James”. Quote from the CEO of Fortunis:
“Stemson’s novel cell therapy approach to treat hair loss has game-changing potential.”
CEO Geoff Hamilton said the following:
“Stemson has established the biological and technical building blocks which are needed to solve the problem of hair loss. A truly curative solution is now feasible.”
We have heard similar praise from a number of other company CEOs during the past decade. So no use in getting hopes raised this early in the process.
Note that Allergan is involved in the hair loss world via investments in a significant number of upcoming companies and technologies.
September 14, 2020
Stemson Therapeutics Patent Approved
Earlier today, Stemson Therapeutics announced that its cornerstone patent had received approval in the US.
This patent (No. 10716808) is titled “Methods and compositions to modulate hair growth”. The technology is licensed exclusively from the Sanford Burnham Prebys Medical Discovery Institute.
The process outlined in this patent entails a novel process to differentiate Induced Pluripotent Stem Cells (iPSC) into dermal papilla cells (DPCs). The latter cells control hair follicle generation and hair cycling.
Considering that Stemson is yet to even start human clinical trials, I do not expect this product to come to market any time soon. However, the scientific research behind this company’s technology seems to be solid, and the company itself is well funded (see further below).
On the company’s news page, last week they announced the hiring of Dr. Meghan Samberg as Vice President of R&D and Preclinical Development.
June 27, 2019
During the last 30 days, we have received positive updates from: Aclaris Therapeutics; Dr. Lowry (new company Pelage Pharmaceuticals); Follica; Polichem; and Shiseido.
We also had a positive story from Columbia University (Dr. Angela Christiano) this week that I did not cover. It pertain to past research on JAK-STAT signaling and hair regrowth. I did not think that we could have a more inspiring month than we have just had in the world of hair loss cure research.
Stemson Therapeutics has Arrived
Perhaps the biggest story of the year is the fact that Stemson Therapeutics is now a reality, and they have officially launched their website. I originally covered this company in 2018, and discussed its research all the way back in 2015.
Moreover, Stemson has secured a multi-million dollar investment from pharmaceutical giant Allergan. In Dr. Alexey Terskikh’s interview with me in 2017, he mentioned that the biggest thing holding them back was lack of sufficient funding.
I have asked Dr. Terskikh to give us another interview soon and hopefully he will accept. Earlier this month, he told me that his lab was given a podium presentation at the ISSCR conference on June 27th. However, he did not mention the below surprising development.
Functional Hair Follicles Grown from Stem Cells
Earlier today, San Diego based Sanford Burnham Prebys published a what seems to be groundbreaking new article: Functional Hair Follicle Grown from Stem Cells. Note that this research institute is affiliated with Dr. Terskikh. More on their Twitter account.
The breakthrough is because scientists from Sanford Burnham have created natural-looking hair that grows through the skin using human induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). According to the article, this “could revolutionize the hair growth industry”.
Unlike in past experiments where new hair growth was underneath the skin, haphazard, and disorderly, the current results produced hair growing above the skin in a uniform pattern. The breakthrough was achieved by using a biodegradable 3D scaffold that guided hair growth through the skin in its preferred direction.
Actual paper is here. Lead researcher is a Dr. Antonella Pinto.
The current protocol is based on mouse epithelial cells combined with human dermal papilla cells. However, the derivation of the epithelial part of a hair follicle from human iPSCs is currently underway in the Terskikh lab. Key quote from the article from today:
“Combined human iPSC-derived epithelial and dermal papilla cells will enable the generation of entirely human hair follicles, ready for allogenic transplantation in humans.”
Make sure to read about the difference between autologous and allogenic. Stemson Therapeutics has licensed the above technology from Sanford Burnham.
Well, I’ll have a full head of hair in ten years when I’m 36, not bad (assuming it passes trials.)
On another note, I’m now more interested in rejuvenating my skin to look youthful. Just Imagine, that you’re 65 years old and have a full thick head of hair, but in addition you have the skin of a 25 year old with no wrinkles. Life in the future is starting to look better everyday.
Just go with a morning and night face routine.
And after turning 30, start botox!
You’ll be sixty and look like you’re in your mid forties.
I’ve applied a face routine since I was 22 and my skin is flawless.
I’m your age, 26.
I have to return some videotapes.
21st century cures act is for cell therapies in the US. I bet they will be able to get this out quicker than expected. Still years away though.
I am 50, trust me, you become less vain with age….
At 60 you won’t care much, there is more important stuff in life….
i’m 55 an i didn’t became less vain…..seems the people are different…..
As a medical student I find the science behind this approach very exciting, however, as someone affected by hairloss, nothing that comes without a schedule truly gives me assurance. :-/
This is fantastic news. We’ve been receiving a lot of updates from big players in hairloss research in a short period of time. I think this is a good sign.
I am curious though why it’s taking so long for jak inhibitors to be marketed and used widely on patients with alopecia areata? For that condition it’s proven to work quite well already. I guess FDA trials can be slow.
When can they do this by?
I learned in 1988 when rogaine came out that when you see “mice” and “could revolutionize the hair growth industry” in an article it means it’s a very long way off.
Well that’s a generalization.
First off, the reason it was hard to effectively treat aka “cure” Baldness, was technological limitations which enable better understanding for research. We’re entering the Biotechnology age, almost everyday a new article is published on micro/molecular biology. That wasn’t the norm 2 decades ago.
Second, who knows what may happen with the FDA approval process. It so happens we will have more old people retiring soon (chronic conditions and unable to work), and a low Birth rate (same issue in Japan). I’d imagine America will enact new laws on Biotechnology FDA rules, similar to Japan due to economic issues due to these factors.
Third, you may become close to becoming Biologically immortal in your lifetime. Imagine being bald for 25 years, but living to be 1,000 years old.
25/1000= 1/40th of your life you’d be bald, that’s not significant. That’s only 2 years with today’s lifespan.
More than likely we will live to be 1000 years old and be bald for 960 of them.
This is encouraging. Every scientific discovery is a step forward and permanent.
What happened to Aclaris? Pictures look good yet there is talk that JAK did not work? From article. Did they mean AA hair loss and not male pattern hair loss?
Pictures did not look good. The best pictures were from patients with hardly any loss in the first place and the after pic was nothing more than what could have been achieved with different styling.
Exactly! Different angle and darker background…
Agreed JAK pictures were shady literally and figuratively. Dissapointing. Not a cure. Cell-based with new follicles is the only way.
It clearly didn’t work if they are saying the placebo had better results than the actual JAK inhibitors did.
https://finance.yahoo.com/news/apos-why-aclaris-therapeutics-stock-170900386.html
That drop in the value pretty much sums up what it is….. snake oil. Might as well go back to the drawing board because JAK inhibitors are never going to be the answer.
I’ll believe it when I see it. In the mid 90’s they were saying that they were “close” with gene therapy and hair follicle multiplication / cloning etc……Then possible tumors. They might be doing this to keep hope and interest alive on this.
I agree with trevor north. It’s your typical mpb research bs. I know the routine and what to expect from all these companies. If we can land a treatment that can grow 100cm2 like follica claims then that’s the closest we are going to get for a very long time. My derm said that hair cloning will be here in 20 years. I thought that was drastic but I think he is right. Either way this Sanford stuff is pretty cool though!
Sorry nasa but your jak is jak sh$t. The results were pathetic and the investors see it too. I am pretty sure they are going to scrap this for mpb. Cots even said a few years ago jak won’t work for AGA.
We still got Follica, sisheido, Samumed, haircell, that Korean medipost, hairstim, follicum, invitrohair, kerastem etc probably others I forgot that should come out in 3 years oh yeah breezula.
File, your derm probably is speculating.
Next time, just ask him/her (I bet it’s a she) what evidence his/her guess is based on.
Thanks Admin!. Excellent writing with a flair for the dramatic. We’ll let you take a break all the way until July 1st, but then we expect a cure!
Regarding this news.. Truly awesome that these things are possible. Cell-based brand new follicles are the only real cure, and now we know they can do it. It’s just a matter of time! The hope is enough to keep me optimistic and happy. Have a great weekend
Thanks for all your hard work this month admin, we all appreciate what you do.
On a side note, i believe earlier this month you said Medipost would be released in Dec and not in July as some were saying. Is this true?
Thanks Champpy! I would likely not have guessed when Medipost would be released.
Maybe you meant my comment that the clinical trials were only ending in November 2019?
https://clinicaltrials.gov/ct2/show/NCT03676400
Yessir, my mistake. I was under the impression trials would have to end before releasing the product. Thats were i got the Dec date.
what phase is this?
Sorry from what I could see JAK worked and that was at low dose. My guess is they were referring to JAK lotion for AA type hair loss that did not work (just my guess that the press got it wrong).
All the other companies with press releases that they have a new website is all the same – things that never will work, all of them. The only thing that might work at this point other than a high dose of JAK will be growing hair from cells. That’s the bottom line. And if JAK turns out not to give great hair at high dose then forget ANY drug from ever working it will have to be from growing hair cellsd.
Yes, all the recent negative news was about AA nasa_rs.
breezula works
So what would make these hairs DHT resistant if they are just recreating a hair follicle from your stem cells through a draw of blood basically?
by the time a true cure will be found all rats on the planet will be dead…
Hate da bs- my derm is a man. He is involved with numerous dermatological research groups and studies. He is in the scenes. He does believe better treatments are close like a couple years away. But hair cloning like Christiano, tsuji, Sanford is many years away from daily commercial use. I had a female derm that worked under cots at the University of Pennsylvania. She was part of numerous research including hair loss. I last saw her in 2016. She told me cell based therapy would be out in 3 to 5 years. I asked her if it would be a cure and she literally laughed and said no and for me to stick with min and Propecia. So that’s why I tell all newbies on here to hop on propecia and Rogaine and save what you got. It may be a while for any new real robust regrowth solutions.
This is a precious advice for newbies. 2 years ago I have thought the cure will be available soon, therefore i didn’t use any treatment and my hair is always worse.. now I use minoxidil 2% since May and don’t know if it will help or it’s too late. Fingers crossed!
Okay!
Next time you meet, please, ask him specifically what he thinks about Tsuji and Fukuda.
If he is familiar with their research, then, his claim may have some merit.
Otherwise, he is just another ignorant doc.
I’m myself a doc and can tell you for sure that many, if not most, docs are just ignorant of current research.
Don’t get me wrong. I also believe that hair multiplication is not coming anytime soon. The 20-year claim is sheerly speculative, though.
Most of you don’t even stick to using the same name every time you post. Who the hell is going to believe that anyone on here is a doc? A person with actual medical training? This actually made me laugh.
I do, too, laugh everytime you talk about Shiseido and how we should follow the money.
Scotty, I have a medical degree and have stuck to this name for a long time.
Totally uncalled for!
Alexey terskikh has already proven “the cure” is real its not a matter of speculation. Its been this way for years. Its all about money ignorant millionaires billionaires etc. There probbaly only 1000 people in the world that know about alexey and half of them are here.
People amaze me. So many negative comments on here, I cannot believe it.
This is fantastic news, a new big player – and somehow the American equivalent of Tsuji/Tokio University/Riken/Organ/Kyocera in form of Terskikh/Stemson/SanfordBurnham/Allergan/UpNano (from my homecountry Austria!). I think it’s very solid in terms of science and money.
Somehow it reminds me of the news from July 2016 and I hope it fires the race between USA and Japan.
To all the critics: yes, this is years away. What do you expect, a cure overnight? And yes, 90 % of the companies fail. Like in every medical field.
I now count 15 (!) serious endeavors to combat our mutual problem – each with a different approach. I am happy and grateful for that.
Which one is from Austria?
What does everyone think about PRP?
Worth considering for someone with light diffuse thinning on top?
The possibility of shock loss is putting me off.
I have had it done. For sports injuries it is awesome. You heal like an 18 year old. But for hair, it is useless.
Ben people are giving negative comments. They are just being realistic from years of let down and disappointment from all the companies never bringing a new treatment. You sound very optimistic which is great. I am assuming you are maybe losing your hair for a couple years? Many of us have been hearing false promises and failed companies since 2001. Companies that promised cell cloning like aderans, intercytex also OSH101, christiano research and also cots. The only thing that remains and works is Rogaine and Propecia. No other companies have shown greater results. Once I see a legit before and after picture from these new players that show dramatic regrowth….I mean normal non combover thick density then I’ll get excited. In the meantime it’s all bs and lies. I wouldn’t be surprised if sisheido flopped too. If it was a breakthrough it would have been on the news. Only company to be on the nightly news was follica back in 2009. I’m sure the only reason he hasn’t released it is because of govt bureaucracy and someone losing money from a new treatment that’s actually works better.
It appears there may have been mistakes made in previous statements about the hair loss drug not working when they used Male Pattern Hairloss as it appears that it was the Auto Immune Hairloss (although for a good reason as it appears JAK treated the underlying issue).
JAK is still in the running, we have more photos due after 1 year of treatment expected late in 2019 AND even more importantly a Higher Dose Trial starts in early 2020.
I’m still a believer and more than ever since in my opinion I see real hair growth with hopefully much, much more to follow with the new trial starting in 2020.
Yes ADMIN:)
“Aclaris Therapeutics (NASDAQ:ACRS) is set for a significant down move on the heels of a failed Phase 2 clinical trial evaluating ATI-502 in patients with an autoimmune disorder characterized by hair loss called alopecia areata.
The study did not meet the primary or secondary endpoints due to high rates of disease resolution in the vehicle (placebo) arm.”
I live in Los Angeles right now every time I’m driving toward irvine I’m like damn terskikh is right down the road killin it.
I’m just gonna roll up one day like hey I’m your new rat let’s do this
Lol!!! I don’t blame you Egghead- haha
Lol
I guess Admin that if Terskikh does grant you another interview, the most obvious q is how long will this take to come to market given that it’s using your own stem cells essentially. Probably safe to assume the usual 5 to 10 but maybe they go the Japan route?
I think this is very encouraging. Even if it isn’t released next year, or the year after, or the year after that, it signifies that there is a concerted effort to combat this problem. Additionally, while Shisedo and Riken are the ones that seem (and indeed appear) to be the best case scenario treatments to be released somewhat soon (knock on wood), the eventual reality of having multiple options for patients will be best. Different treatments will work better for different people, so I am happy that potential salvation will exist for hair loss sufferers of all types. The waiting game is stressful and frustrating and occasionally depressing, however the amount of attention focused on this issue, mixed with advances in biochemistry and cellular genetics, makes the future continuously seem more bright. Speaking as someone in the biological sciences, I do not think that it is foolish to be optimistic about the impending clinical future.
@Acet The waiting game is certainly painful but it might be coming to an end. Yeah, they said that 10 years ago and then intercytex fell through but they just had a funding issue. Now regenerative medicines are backed by multi billion dollar industries (at least the top two players). Shiseido will release their phase II results in a couple weeks and I think Riken will make an announcement in July like they did last year. Those updates will definitely clear up not how far away the cure is but how far away it is for most everyone.
On a brighter note, have you guys seen the phd researcher Antonella Pinto at Stemson Therapeutics? She is hot! I say forget the cure and just give me her haha I’ll forget about my hair loss in two secs. Lol
Immature and moronic comments as always.
Yeah she is damn hot! but we can’t access a girl that hot without a thick nw1. :-(
Of course, you can.
Just google whom Bar Refaeli is married to.
Since you are Greek, google Athina Mourkoussi.
Can someone with some business savy answer a question for me. I’m going to use the name of two companies in a strictly hypothetical question.
Let’s say that Tsuji is progressing his method but is 2 years from launch and while doing so Cassiopiea releases Breezula early and its amazing, give 90% regrowth. It works on everyone and is an affordable DIY at home option.
Would the success of Cassiopiea cause Tsujis work to get delayed or cancelled?
Would a simple, affordable noninvasive “cure” cause other companies to quit their work because their methods are invasive and too costly?
Again totally hypothetical, but I always wondered what would happen to a company that has a highly technical solution for a cure, then somebody released a rather simple one undercutting them somewhat.
All hypothetical
Good question.
Good question, but I think that the possibility of what Tsuji offers will always trump approaches that do not allow for the possibility of Norwood 6’s to go to 2’s (for example). While some medications might work well for less advanced stages, Tsuji’s method would theoretically work for all
Chammpy… I sincerely hope we have your hypothetical problem very very soon! Oh what a wonderful problem to have! And if we did have that problem, then would any of us honestly care about it?? haha
AJ why do you always have to hate on me bro? What’s your deal? . I am just trying to put out a funny comment so people can laugh and have a little fun. What have you provided to this forum other than your insults? At least I try to save the new younger forum members from going bald with my experience of using fin and min. I’m always here to help them and not insult anyone. I may make some comments that sound negative but in reality they are realistic comments to help those that are putting off current treatments for future treatments they think are around the corner. So please slow your roll big guy…..
@Admin, how do some companies and surgeons use stem cells from umbilical cords without requiring FDA approval? For an example see LA Dermatology instagram. If using your own cells, or not in the case I mentioned above, how does that affect the regulatory approval timelines?
This is very exciting, since they already release a pic of growing hair, similar to Tsuji. I know we all care mostly about timeline though.
what the hell is going on … is it really so hard to grow hair? all this story about baldness starts to become surreal, soon we will be able to travel through time … and still no hair ???? is this real ???
Sorry for being offtopic..I am going for a hair transplant. Some People tell me DHI is the best option.Others say its just advanced FUE with higher cost. Is DHI worthy of all the money? Can someone help..I really liked what i saw on their website but want to know whether they are genuine.
@Admin, there is a very good talk given by Antonella Pinto at the San Diego Division of Regenerative Medicine Symposium. It lays out their approach and shows the interesting “Lolli-up” scaffold technique. (4 minute video below)
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tvzlQv7isxc
Admin, a new article just came out about Terskikh. Have you covered this already or is this new stuff?
https://www.newsmax.com/t/health/article/922799?section=health-news&keywords=baldness-breakthrough-baldness-cure&year=2019&month=07&date=01&id=922799&oref=www.google.com
My bad, Amdin. That article is LITERALLY this post.
But all they need is a human trial now, right? So they’re technic on the same page as Tsuji?
Lorence this is the reality of the pharmaceutical and research industry. There isn’t a cure for any medical condition that can make more money with snake oils and repeat treatment. It’s one giant circle of discovery, hype and then disappearance or discovery, hype, clinical trials, weak results then shelved. It’s going to be fin, min, fue and maybe some better maintenance drug with 10 to 20% regrowth. Even I’m starting to lose hope in follica. Afraid it’s going to give 20 cm2 hairs instead of 100cm2 terminal.
Anyone got a shiseido update?
@ Mjones
At this point it doesn’t matter if I have to put an ointment on my head or swallow a pill every single day … but at least they should put on the market something that really works.
We are still too far from a final cure, at least 10 or 15 years.
If Tsuji goes well it will be much less than 10 years.
lorence says
;we are still too far from a final cure, at least 10 or 15 years.> Yeah you are right and in the year 2035 you or another day the same words, the same story backwards!
Look its possible that it is that far but I dont think its fair to write off shiseido before we hear the results same with tsuji over the next year or so. If either are best case scenario or both then that is incredibly substantial at the least.
Andy…forget tsuji bringing out a cure in 2020 or 2021. I think tsuji means cliniCal trials starting in 2020 then wait for two phases to complete for commercial release. So probably 2025 or so. That’s my assumption. Yes I agree we shouldn’t technically write sisheido off until we hear from them. I just don’t like how no media channels ever mentioned them in the news so far. Just some Japanese show.
5 years for trails? They only need one though. Maybe 2025 for access to a greater population but I think 2020 or 2021 it’ll be out. Going to be pricy and only in Japan but what the hell.
I honestly dont know why some of you are so negative about some of these companies. Follica will be out very soon, then we have breezula and samumed after that. Possibly we have an even better cure with shiseido.
Short answer: it’s the internet, where people are negative about anything.
Longer answer: lots of people have already chosen their favorite horse to win the race to a cure. It’s a tribal thing, and every other company therefore must be a scam. Also, lots of folks want a perfect, 100 percent, no-effort cure, and anything short of that is snake oil. To be fair, the response rates to many legitimate current treatments are low, so there’s a lot of frustration and suspicion. There’s also a lot of general frustration about the unfairness of hair loss (and it IS unfair to get a bad number in the genetic lottery) coupled with a sense of modern western consumer entitlement. Finally, there is a lot of shit neutraceutical trash on the market based on bogus science and lies, and a lot of us have been burned.
People have to be smart. They have to research current and coming products. They have to understand how they work, and how they will work with their own physiology, since a lot of these drugs rely on metabolic and enzymatic pathways that exist in various phenotypes (reductases, sulfotransferases, lipases, etc.). A lot of the people who complain don’t want to do work. They want a magic cure. And even if they do the work, the results are usually underwhelming.
But there is hope, even for those of us who can’t afford a trip to Japan and an expensive treatment. Significant results will likely depend on the combination of multiple treatments, an expense which will also quickly mount. And it will require a certain degree of discipline, effort, and patience. Many people don’t have the dedication (you see it with all disease states, like obesity, diabetes, mental health, etc., where interventions can be quite successful but many folks can’t — sometimes for legitimate reasons — manage to stick to the regime) and that failure comes out as negativity and misplaced blame.
It’s the era of misinformation and “everybody-has-an-opinion” even when it’s based on feelings rather than direct knowledge or experience.
We DON’T know what’s going to work. We can make some educated guesses, maybe, but there’s as much reason to be hopeful as to complain. The horse race mentality is laughable. The admin’s highly informed wait-and-see attitude is admirable. That’s why I come here.
Does anyone know if it is possible to be prescribed a higher strength winlevi (eg 5% instead of 1%)?
Also when could they start doing this stem cell and scaffolding thing in humans?
To D1
when could they start doing this stem cell and scaffolding thing in humans?
As I wrote before … 10/15 years.
Why am I so negative? … perhaps because Follica has been around for more than 10 years, like so many other companies, and they still haven’t done anything … something stinks big… they just don’t know what their doing, they don’t even know exactly how minoxidil really works … Lol
It s hard to be optimistic when more companies were around for more than a decade and either came with poor results or still nothing new. This is ridiculous. Should I mention for 100th time that is 2019 already? Soon we will have flying cars and portals through time and still can t grow a follicle / find a cure for a bloody follicle??? It s just a follicle they cloned so many organs already and they can t grow a follicle.
Come on we re not 12 we see where this is going. What can you possibly do in a decade or longer and still have no results. This is like petrol companies. We have technology for electric cars or other alternatives but why don t you see them on the roads already and instead we see only a few electric cars you can count on fingers? They try to milk everything out before it s gone till last drop.
Since when we have minoxidil??? Since forever. And now Aclaris came with a “cure” which does nothing more than Minoxidil excepting that it might work for a greater number of people unlike Minoxidil which works for some people only but that s all, in 2019. Technology exploded quite a while ago and even before it wasn t that bad but considering the time since then it would be more than enough to have a cure already. How many breakthroughs we had so far how many of them worked in lab then silence. Ofc people are tired of bs. People want something a real result, that works ye. I guess they still have more Minoxidil to sell.
What are these soon to be portals through time you speak of?
Cause I would go into the future where there is a cure and bring it back.
Problem solved.
Uhh well it s 2019 and we re still stuck with that bloody Minoxidil we have since forever. Yes Aclaris came with some positive results, depends on how you see it, to me is positive news sorta, but not a progress considering that in 2019 we have another Minoxidil with different name (still not out tho!). Maybe we should wait for time travelling so we can go further in the future and get the cure since growing a damn follicle is impossible.
Also we keep hearing the same old news kinda a breakthrough here and there then nothing about it ever again or something that is still in trial since forever. Most of other companies are silent, I guess their results are quite bad otherwise we will see on news. So yeah we get the same “progress” since 10 years ago.
The good news about all of this is that we at least have Rogaine and Propecia. Imagine growing up in the early 80s, and before where there was absolutely nothing to hold on to our hair. You had straight up no hope to fighting hair loss. Something new will come out that will just be marginal better than current treatments. Slight more regrowth and hopefully true maintenance. Then 10 to 20 years later a better treatment than that etc. That’s how the medical field works. Baby steps to milk out all our money because they know they’ll get it. Everyone was buying brotzu lotion knowing it was snake oil….yet they still tried it lol
Admin, I know we had our ups and downs on here throughout the years but I do want to thank you for creating this blog and being 100% ethical and not exploiting us with bs sales pitches.
Keep up the good work! Hopefully we see a effective hair loss treatment in the next couple years.
We already have the cure and we all need to recognize money is holding it back. It’s not a feasibility issue it’s a go to market issue now.
I think tsuji will be on time he spoke to Forbes About kobe medical tourism. If shiseido comes out with positive news were going to see a race
@Egghead I think 2020 is a big year on everyone’s calendar, results or not but it’s been the aim for the past decade. So yeah, the race is already on. We’re just not literally in it so we can’t feel the competition. But I bet it’s cutthroat in Japan between tsuji and Shiseido and whoever else may be working on something behind the scenes.
Also, is the only limitation of a HT the donor zone? Because they can produce some really good looks even with what you have but with unlimited follicles they can give you back your original head of hair, or am I missing something? Like not enough bloood supply or something?
The blood supply limites the density per cm² you can achieve on a single transplant (or “implant” if it’s cloning), but you can get several transplant with months in between to keep increasing the density.
If I was one of these biotech companies I wouldn’t put the price too high so I could sell it to as many men as possible. The microsoft OS didn’t cost a fortune and bill gates sold it to many people.
They were almost giving it away in order to get a high market share. In fact, the Internet Explorer browser was free.
@florence I agree. Companies like follica have been fooling around with the same discovery for many years.this translates to having nothing otherwise they would have shown something by now…and yet we will continue to read about baldness breakthroughs and possible cures and how such and such chemical grew hair in the lab only to never hear about them again. “Stressin B” ring a bell to anyone? Lol. And yet my dumb self still occasionally gets excited when I read about a breakthrough. It’s stupid of me. It’s like, when will I learn?
So much uncessary negativity
Any thoughts about Kerastem it’s available in uk
Anyone heard of Vie Aesthetics?
https://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-7344219/Pioneering-stem-cell-procedure-doesnt-just-prevent-hair-loss-reverses-it.html
Well just heard tsuji commercialization 5 years Away. It’s been 7 years lurking here watching fall after fail… i think this will be my last post last visit. Nothings coming out soon.
Good luck to everyone.
every logical person knows that in 5 years there will be no hair cloning, this research lasts for years and nothing positive has emerged from them yet, some on the forum live with hope and not facts, such as Woofy. before anything appears, if it appears on the market at all, it will be too late for us, I know it’s a cruel truth, but this is what it is like to get over baldness from that you don’t die
Fail after fail? when has tsuji failed? Egghead are you behind the scenes with tsuji? No you’re not you have no idea.
Woofy in 2020 we should have cure , and what we have got?
I have a dream that one day every valley shall be exalted, and every hill and mountain shall be made low, the rough places will be made plain, and the crooked places will be made straight; and the glory of the Lord shall be revealed and every totally bald guy will see real hair loss cure which regrow full head of hair without any side effects within several months.
Ignore all the sad people on here who like to wallow in negativity. Truth is that things have never looked so hopeful. Many serious and well funded companies across the globe have made real peer reviewed break throughs in the science. Real hair multiplication now looks odds on for the second half of this decade. As with Covid it is science , and only science, that brings results. Praying never reversed baldness, you can be sure of that.
the facts are, buddy, that we have 2020 and there is no breakthrough in the fight against baldness, I am a realist and not a pessimist this is the truth, i.e. after 2025 only a cure? and it was supposed to be in 2020, and what will you write in 2025? we can bet I bet more than 20 years before this technology is refined and accessible to ordinary people
Jan you’re a Realist? I don’t think so more like a negative commenter that has no explanation to why they think hair cloning will come out In 100 years except “well ken W failed and replicel failed so tsuji will fail” that’s your explanation everytime that’s not being a realists that’s just plain negativity.
@Egghead; where did you hear Tsuji is now 5 years away? Any reputable source that we can take a look at?
5 years is a very very optimistic
Hair cloning will happen it’s just not now. It’s more complicated than just saying tsuji will cure it. Think about the process of synchronization of hair growth, cycles, etc and implanting each new follicle. It’s very complex. I say in 20 yrs these big companies like stemson, tsuji, tissuse, will have it through trials and perfected for commercial use. They keep saying closer timelines to keep you interested. Imagine if they straight up said ot will be out in 2040. You would get mad and forget them. Reality is we will have new stuff like follica. SM. CB, maybe histogen to give us a boost in maintenance and regrowth…maybe a nw or two if you are good responder. Throw in a mass fue like the Bulgarian guy and you may not even need hair cloning. I think fue will much more advanced with higher yield results like the Bulgarian guy. This is my realist view for hair loss. I’ve been in the game hoping and positive thinking since 2001. The key to mpb is catching it asap and hoping on big 3. As soon as you see unusual shedding and changes to your hair hop on big 3 asap and not natural bs vitamins. Be smart and act.
here is the usual mjones who enters the forums to cry and does not know anything about the various treatments !!! however his messages are copy and paste !! at least use different words that you are being ridiculous !!
Here‘s a small summary of StemsonTx on the website of the involved investment company. It‘s case study 3:
https://www.fortuniscapital.co.uk/our-investments
Just for your information, nothing really new.
Mimi do you disagree with me? Its amazing how many people are in denial on this website. Do you think a cure will be available in 5 years? Lol. Grow up brother. Tbh I don’t think they will want to release a baldness cure ever because they know losers like you will go out and buy whatever snake oil crap that gets released. You get emotional and sucked into the hype. Cures dont make money, repeating treatment of limited effectiveness drugs makes money because it brings in recurring customers. Business 101 my friend. Yes I do copy and paste. If my message gets crossed to one person who just started balding then I know I helped one person hop on big 3 before it’s too late to save their hair. Good night!
It’s interesting how you guys slowly start to agree with what I said months ago, that we are in technology era and we still talk about Minoxidil and that a cure should have been already here. But Scott told me that I m one of those who believe in Illuminati and stuff like that, like I was delusional or something. I said it too, it is better for them to have clients buying a treatment every month rather than buying something once and getting the cure, it s called capitalism. I still strongly believe that a cure is not wanted and that would upset “the big guys” selling Minoxidil and Finasteride, but I can bet people will bring Illuminati stuff on the table again.
Years ago Replicel said something about 2018 then 2020 and now it’s silent. Also, now Tsuji is silent. I understand there are fanboys here, it’s ok to be a fanboy but calling others negative just because they bring facts from the past, I don t know about that. How many companies so far said: “In 5 years guys, hell yea” and it was 5 years every 5 years and yet people didn’t learn this pattern, it s like they have memory only for 5 years and then they forget everything.
There was a guy here on forum who was almost desperate for his favorite company to succeed he was alone against the world and when that company sunk I didn’ t hear from him ever again since then. Let them believe, let them call us delusional, let them say: “This time is really different, this time we are more advanced than ever”, like they always did 5 years ago and so on, they will maybe learn one day the “5 years pattern”. I really want them to succeed, I really wish for a cure, but saying that being negative it doesn’ t help, makes me ask: How being positive helps then? Will trials be rushed if you are positive? I doubt that. I prefer to stay realistic and see the reality which sucks unfortunately. It is what it is. Peace.
Tsuji still have to have a proof of concept in humans and that still haven’t happened.
Thank you R. Nice to see someone with a open mind and realistic here.
Riken still haven’t any official “now we do follicle research” papers going, its very all over the place with brain, human genomes and so on. Something is delaying their hair follicle research since its not up and in front like other research areas.
What are you even talking about?
There is literally dozens of peer-reviewed research papers online and available to the public.
You can also look up the multiple patents that are owned by OrganTech/Riken, only for hair multiplication!
OrganTech does not have any product they are marketing, they have no need or obligation to communicate any progress with anybody. Still they do it on a regular basis.
You are making a fool out of yourself.
Jan is a troll. So obvious. Why is he allowed to make so many nonsense comments Admin!?
progress may continue to the end of the world and we will still be bald….
Stemson gets 7.5 million in seed money…
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20200916005288/en/Stemson-Therapeutics-Secures-7.5M-Seed-Financing-for-the-Development-of-Breakthrough-Hair-Regeneration-Therapy-to-Cure-Hair-Loss
Good news from stemson:) at least we have not only Tsuji, personally i only believe in these two companies, no faith in stemore or tissuse or loreal.
I have a few puzzles: will Stemson be able to control hair thickness and color? won’t this new hair be prone to dht and fall out after a year>?
Hi Jan
Sorry, but why do you have no faith in L’Oreal? This is one of the World’s largest companies, that has been working on hair loss for several years and has made significant progress in its goal towards hair printing. What’s not to like?
Alan they did any human trial?
None of these companies has yet to do human trials; including Stemson! I take it from this that you don’t actually have any cogent reasons why L’Oreal should be dismissed.
Why the heck would they produce DHT-sensitive follicles which will fall out again?
Do you hear yourself?
how will they check if these cells are resistant to dht, how can they be sure
That‘s the second highest single investment in the hairloss-industry after Allergan‘s staggering 25 millions in Exicure.
Money is the crucial factor. That’s amazing news. And just to add: no investor will ever put that much money into a new technology after extensive examination by experts. I assume they have the solution ready, now it’s only about development.
Additional factor: an outside investor puts a lot of pressure on the company. They want to earn money, as fast as possible. So no endless research. It’s all about results now.
I am happy.
Ben good point
If money was the crucial factor we’d have a cure by now. Dumb statement
Lots of companies in have had major issues with starting clinical trials at each stage due to funding issues. Stemson looks like they will have no such issues.
Admin the plan is for 2021 for Stemson?
I don’t doubt companies may have issues starting trials from lack of money, but money’s not the crucial factor denying us a cure. It’s something that actually works. Money would follow very quickly. Allergan has boatloads of money, what’s it gotten us sufferers?
Do not feed the troll. All of Jan’s hourly one line comments insult scientists and companies. He is trying to get a reaction from people.
TJ i am realistic man, not like some dreamers from forum
Why can’t they go to Japan and get this done in one trial? @admin
good question D1
is this stemson treatment will be permanent, or should we reapeat it every several years//?
https://seekingalpha.com/news/3612977-histogen-concludes-dosing-in-mid-stage-study-of-hstminus-001-for-baldness
Loreal was pushing a gray hair cure that would be out around 2015, I’m still waiting….no faith in Loreal here to come out w/ something meaningful before another company does.
There is a cure for gray hair called “dye”. It’s been on the market for thousands of years.
That’s good news. Though to be honest, I just find the stem cell things more interesting from a scientific perspective and perhaps and insurance policy for when I’m old rather than something to bother looking forward to.
The costs of these will be astronomical and limited. Further, you aren’t going to be able to travel to get them done anyway.
Guys who are bothered by grey hair would probably kill themselves if hair loss kicks in… LOL
Who cares if your hair is white or yellow as long as you have them…
you’re kidding right? While I wish to heck people could be put out of their misery from hair loss, you can’t tell me you wouldn’t care (or at least most people) if your hair was white or yellow vs. that of your younger self
Find me a woman who cares if Chad has gray hair or not.
There are, however, plenty of men who don’t want gray-haired women because it shows she is older and not a good candidate for breeding any longer.
This is all evolutionary, lizard-brain stuff that has been around forever. So if a guy starts going gray but he’s decent-looking to begin with. 99.99% of men are simply not going to care and the ugly ones know it isn’t going to help them any.
Perhaps it’s a bit different if you start going gray really young, but most people don’t and again — hair dye has been around since the dawn of time.
Funding helps but it doesn’t mean it will bring a cure because stemson got 7 million bucks or whatever amount. Look at sisheido. They dumped a load of money and dedicated an entire research center for hair cloning. They failed miserably…….
That’s actually not the same. Shiseido didn’t actually build a facility for hair cloning; they built a facility that COULD be used to house such technology….or anything else they want.
So even if they didn’t wind up using it for RCH01, it’s not a loss to them. They’re one of the largest cosmetic firms in the world, they build new facilities all the time.
However, an indie start-up getting 7.5 million in funding suggests that it is probably a high-value i.e., worthwhile investment.
Like That Guy said. There is a thing called dye. Look at all the Hollywood celebs who dye theirs. Brad Pitt being one. I’d take a full head of hair being white any day of the week, over a having a permanent skin-hat for life.
I would prefer the below any day over Norwood 3 all dark hair:
https://menhairstylesworld.com/wp-content/uploads/2019/04/07.-crop-1.jpg
Not sure how this devolved into a pissing match, everyone is different, just like some people dont care about their hair loss. Some of you on here are ridiculous and I can tell the mental scars left from your malady. Back to the ORIGINAL point, Loreal touted this great cure for gray hair coming around 2015 and not a whiff has come of that. No faith in Loreal to come out with something before another company does.
And @%# your dye, that’s not a cure, lol. Many of them can cause Cancer
Literally nobody is talking about L’Oreal except you.
The article isn’t about L’Oreal
There are no comments besides your about L’Oreal
There is just you, lamenting that L’Oreal didn’t cure gray hair. No one is going to do that because dye is a real thing and can be made out of purely natural ingredients — so it has been for millennia.
Read much. Several mentions of Loreal prior to me and I wasn’t really looking to get into discussion on gray hair as I’m only 10% gray at this time. But yes, it does bother me to some extent and for someone to go onto mention (not me mind you) that 99.9 % of men don’t care? Well I call BS and hypocrisy when i see it, that’s all. We all want a cure I assume, no one questioned that, That Guy. Enough about this, where’s a damn improvement on current treatments
Haha yeah this is the dream. Full head of healthy, long, white hair is a LOOK.
I agree with admin that dude with long white hair and that bad ass beard is cool. Much better than nw3 with no gray hair. Dying your hair each month is better than putting on rogaine nightly, taking fin and doing all that other bs we do keep our hair.
When will the world realized the only real cure for baldness is hair systems. Ask Scott he will tell you.
Scott I’d rather have my real hair back. I don’t want to have to worry about people thinking it looks fake and it accidentally falling off and you can say “oh well you don’t have to worry about if falling cause they use medical grade adhesive” I don’t care I’m not putting fake hair on my head. The hairline and everything will probably look good wet but when your fake hair drys hairline looks like shit lol looks so fake.
“We live, not as we wish to, but as we can.” —Menander.
Woofy97, we’re all here because we wish our hair back, but we do what we can.
Backham’s hair (May 2020)…
https://www.thetimes.co.uk/article/david-beckham-and-the-case-of-the-missing-hair-fw6wj6k5d
Beckham’s hair (July 2020)…
https://www.fr24news.com/a/2020/07/david-beckham-visits-captain-sir-tom-moore-as-elected-honorary-lionhearts-team-captain.html
Hair System 2020?! Good luck to you if that’s your choice, but I’m out…
@ Scott Myman hair systems are a major cope. Absolutely not an option for 90% of guys. You can always tell when someone is wearing a rug. Women aren’t clamoring for guys in toupees.
If you are a high Norwood 6/7, your only options are: (1) grow out and style remaining hair on sides, (2) combover, (3) shave head every week, (4) shave and tattoo fake stubble shade, or (5) wear a hair system.
Chances of recovering total loss in the next 10 years for a price under 6 figures is slim (maybe even impossible). So if you care about having hair at all you must either: (1) save a pile of money, delay and pray, (2) discover the scientific solution yourself, or (3) fake the look. Judging the hair systems from the company admin posted a few weeks ago, you’d be an absolute self-sabotaging moron to write off wearing a wig like this… https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hp38Q_KSg30
It’s mope or cope either way. Leave your head alone and risk being called a clown or a pedo, or wear a wig and risk being asked if you are wearing a wig.
Girls are less attracted to fussy guys. A cool wig (like the ones in the video or what David Beckham wears) and a cut every few months is less fussy than a man desperately trying to fix his wispy thinning hair. Day after day, year after year, getting fibre sprinkles all over the place, popping pills that give him weak erections, spraying topicals that make his face crease, rubbing in exotic chemicals that he bought somewhere because somebody said it does something, bloodying his head with needling, always checking the mirror and making micro adjustments, wearing hats in the sunlight and laser helmets after work. It’s all mope or cope.
Although it’s a bandaid for a bullet wound, LG is releasing a laser hair growth helmet…
https://www.google.com.au/amp/m.koreaherald.com/amp/view.php%3fud=20200921000351
They finished there pig trial earlier this year and it was a success fortunis capital said IN a vimeo conference call that there aiming to start human trials later this year of 2021.
I could not find anything about the pig trials earlier this year…Do you have any links?
I´d say we have to wait 20 to 25 years from now?
I’m glad to see Spencer brought on Geoff. Part 1 was fantastic!
Woofy why it was fantastic?
I liked what they talked about.
He said “If our solution works the way we hope it does” so he does not even know if this will work or not, plus he reminds me of Ken Washinek idk why. I smell some sort of Aderans in here!
Well of course they don’t know if it’ll work yet lol. Have human trials started? No, they’re testing on pigs which are close to humans in terms of skin barrier and what not. The reason they’re receiving funds from big pharm companies is because they must be showing something impressive and are in route for human trials hopefully by the end of this year/next year. Btw Woofy you think DNOVO will pass clinical trials faster considering they don’t use iPSCs?
You’re troll. “So he does not even know if it will work or not” they haven’t even tested on humans chill but all the scientists/docs they have partnered with feel very confident that it will work on a human. “Smells like washinek” “I smell some sort of Aderans” okay dude
https://m.youtube.com/watch?v=dLMU2JnGkDo Jan in the comment section of this YouTube video I see your name replying to the user “Pinned by The Hair Transplant Channel Patrick Foley”
why are you copying and pasting what Ibraheem typed above? Get exposed.
I am pretty shocked how they „badmouth“ or let’s say criticize Hairclone – that’s something you rarely hear.
The simple explanation of Hamilton makes sense though, on the other side Paul Kemp already showed success with his technology 10 years ago.
That’s an interesting „fight“ of philosophies. Well we will see results from Hairclone in the upcoming months.
Yeah same reaction here, I felt that this was really nasty… but I guess they rather criticized their way of tackling the de novo hair formation in comparison – you can bank now and hope for a definite cure (real cloning) someday… which is of course with all the letdowns of other past companies not so trustworthy.
Nonetheless both are neither scientists, nor medical doctors. Sure they can understand the problem and have experience, but we will have to wait what hairclone’s dermal papilla multiplication will bring to the table… I wish them all the best since it would be the fastest track for a real cure at an early stage at this moment.
Admin, do you know something new about hairclone or Paul Kemp? Sure, they wanted to start with treatment of patients in early 2022, but “early” is in the hairloss community a malleable phrase to be honest …
Paul was planning to conduct an interview with me last year, but then we decided to postpone to this year when things move along further. Will reach out to him next month most likely.
Thanks a lot for all your efforts!
They didn’t say anything new in the videos.
IMO Stemson is wasting time & resources. The UK hair researcher, Collin Jahoda, proved decades ago that it doesn’t take the creation of entire follicles to produce hair on bald heads. He took INDUCED hair cells from his own body & implanted them onto his wife’s arm & the cells alone grew hair on her. Stemson has been creating induced hair cells for years so they don’t need to invent scaffolds & all this other stuff to make it possible to implant entire follicles into bald heads. They just need to create induced hair cells & implant them into bald tissue. Voila! Baldness is cured. As a matter of fact, that’s what TissUse & d’Novo are doing. It’s what Tsuji is doing. I have no idea why Stemson is wasting time on creating follicles and putting time into solving all of the problems associated with creating new follicles. They should just create induced hair cells using iPS tech and then inject the cells into bald pig or macaque skin and see what happens.
Admin, have you read this recent study?
https://www.mdpi.com/2072-6643/15/1/214
bye
Yeah saw it in the news earlier today, but it’s just one off for now. I doubt too strong a connection. Even with diabetes, I read one study suggesting a connection to hair loss, but I doubt it is major. With heart disease, there is a stronger connection. Maybe inflammatory processes.
If sugary drinks caused beard hair to die, I would increase my consumption! But none of these correlations to scalp hair loss ever seem to also correlate to body hair loss.
Can’t they just come out with a new treatment already….22 years with the bs advancements….idiots
This is a bad story, one of those stories without a happy ending … by now it seems to have become a biblical plague, no hair for us brothers.
We are looking forward to Junji Fukuda news in this 2023!!
https://www.leicestermercury.co.uk/news/health/baldness-could-soon-cured-after-8008513
Some more BS…
“…studies have shown”. Wish I had a penny for everytime I’ve read that old chestnut.
Plikus presentation:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=suGzbbNreD8
Any cool highlight points from the video?
I just realized that Dr. Antonella Pinto, the first employee of Stemson and prior to that a longtime research associate of Dr. Terskikh and his groundbreaking discoveries, left Stemson Tx.
Can mean nothing at all, but has some significance imho. In general there was quite some movement in the staff department. We‘ll see.
Cenk Sumon had also previously left but didn’t hinder the team from hiring new recruits. It’s a normal cycle in a biotech company. People get offered better contracts, easier commute, can’t spread themselves out as much and focus on their other jobs etc. I wouldn’t look to deeply into it
https://www.linkedin.com/in/antonella-pinto-392b78122/ It might not be updated but she still has Stemson in her profile
https://www.businesswire.com/news/home/20230201005196/en/Kevin-D%E2%80%99Amour-PhD-Joins-Stemson-Therapeutics-as-Chief-Scientific-Officer You see what I mean? You just gotta trust the process
Also, a reader sent me the below:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pMTNpU27zBA&t=8s
3 new scientists were added to the team at Stemson, interesting…mwhaha
Thanks! I just read the February PR about Kevin D’Amour. Who else?
It’s the following (because they weren’t on the team page on the Stemson website previously)
1) Amy Childers, ASCP
2) Christine Guyot, RVT
3) Aarathi Manivannan, MS
Thanks!
No problem my man