In February, someone e-mailed me a news link on Technoderma (China)’s site. At the bottom of that page devoted to dermatitis was a section on androgenetic alopecia (AGA):
“Previously, the company has completed the phase I clinical trial of TDM-105795 tincture in androgen alopecia (AGA), and is expected to initiate the phase II clinical trial in the middle of March 2023.”
On the company’s site, it says that TDM-105795 is a “first-in-class” small molecule thyromimetic drug candidate. Thyromimetics are synthetic analogs of thyroid hormones.
A 2022 study from China found that Tehnoderma’s thyroid hormone receptor agonist promotes hair growth in mice. They called the molecule thyroxine receptor agonist TDM 10842. Note that the hair growth resulted via “the early induction of anagen” so it is not brand new hair. The researchers suggest a potential mechanism to be the activation of Wnt/beta-catenin and Hedgehog pathways.
The Thyroid Hormone and Hair Growth
- A 2016 study from Europe concluded that the thyroid hormone analogue KB2115 (Eprotirome) prolongs the human hair growth cycle (i.e., anagen).
- A 2010 US study found that a thyroid hormone receptor beta subtype-selective thyromimetic 5 was efficacious in mouse and monkey hair growth after topical application.
- A 2008 study even concluded that thyroid hormones (besides prolonging the anagen phase of the hair cycle) impact hair pigmentation.
Technoderma Begins Phase 2 Trials
Earlier today, someone e-mailed me that Technoderma just began recruiting for their Phase 2 clinical trials in the US per a Reddit post. They are moving just as fast as the other Chinese company Kintor Pharma.
The clinical trial page states a trial start date of April 17, 2023 and a completion date of November 30, 2023. Update: Now confirmed. First doses given.
They are looking for 72 volunteers. The sponsors and collaborators are listed as Technoderma Medicines Inc and Therapeutics Inc (a dermatology contract research organization).
The clinical trial page lists three research locations in Oregon, Texas and Virginia. However, per the Reddit post (which in turn comes from a Discord announcement), there are thirteen cities across nine states where you can get recruited to participate. I will not post the city names or the contact person’s e-mail here for now, but you can check the Reddit.
I posted this now because the 72 participant capacity will likely fill up very fast.
Thanks for covering Technoderma (the first time I think). I‘ve been following them for quite some time now. Just some random thoughts:
– [ ] the thyroid pathway was always intriguing to me as a possible treatment. There’s quite some research about it as admin mentioned above.
– [ ] Technoderma needed 2 damn years from start to finish for trial number one. Apparently the treatment time was only for 4 weeks. Lots of question marks here. If everything goes well this time we might see results of trial 2 already this year.
– [ ] Ralf Paus is currently doing a study on topical T3/4 funded by the HairDAO. Apparently that was his first suggestion as he suspects it to be effective and quick to market (T3/4 is already approved).
Altogether great to have another candidate in the second trial!
Mice are not good animal models for testing drugs.
Just look what happened to Vedere Bio. They had great results in mice, but failed in clinical trials. Plus, they got funding more than 130M dollars. Now they shut down the company.
https://www.biospace.com/article/vedere-bio-ii-closes-its-doors-after-preclinical-studies-miss-high-bar/?utm_campaign=Daily%20Social%20%7C%20News&utm_content=243841660&utm_medium=social&utm_source=twitter&hss_channel=tw-21793154
3D/4D bioprinting tissues, organoids/shperoids, organ-on-a-chip will be much better and predictible models for drug testing.
No offence Bryan but what about hmi 115 showing results in AGA bearing macaques? It’s the same gene and pathology as in humans.
Mice are different than the macaques. Several hair products have succeeded on Mice but not on humans while the Stumpped tail Macaques have been more aligned with humans with regards to Fin and Minox when tested as well as other products I can’t remember right now. If I remember correctly the mice can show that it is reasonable safe, but the Macaques can show it is efficient.
Stumped Tail-Macaques has Androgenic Alopecia and goes balding through life.
They are better models for hair loss drug testing. But, probably very expensive and hard to breed.