Dr. Cotsarelis New Discovery that may finally cure Baldness (June 3rd, 2013)

[clandestine]

but how do you apply it

Dermaroller maybe? In line with 'wounding' mentality?

But what are the risks involved?

[Thinning87]

but how do you apply it

[hellouser]

http://www.reprokine.com/Human%20Fibroblast%20Growth%20Factor-9%20Recombinant%20_id=3422

[Thinning87]

Some insight from reddit;



http://en.reddit.com/r/science/comme..._pennsylvania/

I disagree on his view about biotech startups possibly missing important stuff because they look for quick homeruns; this is not necessarily true, although it does happen. But it seems more like the usual cautious tone everyone likes to have when this stuff comes out.

Look, if they are doing human trial experiments and are in phase 2A then this means they had some kind of insight or results in phase 1. All this cautiousness related to how the theory is based on a comparison with mice is unmotivated. It's not like they took a mouse and regrew hair on it and said "look we did it!", this is much more than that.

[Thinning87]

I think the time being spent would be best put towards getting laid. But I'd still put in the effort in keeping and regrowing my hair.

hahaha ok you win!

[clandestine]

Some insight from reddit;

I worked on some of this stuff for a few years, it's really fascinating. I'm glad to see some more progress has been made. Cotsarellis is a very smart man (as is Sarah Millar, she's briliiant) and his lab is consistently publishing some great work.
One of the major impediments for moving this to humans is targeting and delivery, though. I'm curious to see what the next steps in the research path are.

EDIT: Since this is my top-level comment, I want to add a comment here. One thing people need to keep in mind is that while institutions like UPenn are handling the basic biology research, the development of this sort of technology is handled by biotech companies that license the tech. These companies are likely to be smaller biotech firms with investment boards that control the direction of research through application of funding, simply looking for a quick home run to make a lot of money off of a proportionally small investment. This leads to a massive shift in the priorities of the company, where the focus is not refining the technology and science but instead on moving through trials as fast as possible to get to market. If they miss on a significant result during trials, it could lead to a massive withdrawal of investor funding.

EDIT 2: To people complaining about the speed of research, you cannot begin to comprehend how complicated an issue this is. The hair is basically a mini-organ, complete with it's own set of stem cells, that exhibits cycling behavior. There are a large number of factors affecting how the hair grows and regresses and we do not understand how a lot of these factors interact. You might as well ask why we can't make fingers regrow yet, it's a very complicated problem. With the basic research being performed in mice, translating this to humans may take a very long time.

http://en.reddit.com/r/science/comments/1fna39/scientist_from_the_university_of_pennsylvania/

[hellouser]

you're right, it's probably not impossible, but with all the talk about possible risks with taking too much HSC, I'd be careful what you put on your scalp.

If this is a product that will create small wounds to create new skin and follicles, that pretty much means no matter how old and bald we'll be in five years we'll have the cure.

In that case, I think time is better spent preparing for being able to have that cure the moment it comes out, rather than wasting energy and time into imitating something that might be more complex (and dangerous) than we expect it to be.

I think the time being spent would be best put towards getting laid. But I'd still put in the effort in keeping and regrowing my hair.

[Thinning87]

Why not?

you're right, it's probably not impossible, but with all the talk about possible risks with taking too much HSC, I'd be careful what you put on your scalp.

If this is a product that will create small wounds to create new skin and follicles, that pretty much means no matter how old and bald we'll be in five years we'll have the cure.

In that case, I think time is better spent preparing for being able to have that cure the moment it comes out, rather than wasting energy and time into imitating something that might be more complex (and dangerous) than we expect it to be.

[hellouser]

You guys can't replicate this stuff on your own.

Why not?

[bigentries]

yeah that's kind of important, also because there is also one article as far as I know that mentiones phase 2A, while others only generally mention "clinical trials on humans" or not even that.

I wonder if it's possible to test something and have the FDA keep everything private.

One article also talks about "pre-clinical trials"

Edit.

Apparently it's being done in Germany

https://www.clinicaltrialsregister.eu/ctr-search/search?query=follica

Other sources from past years suggest that Follica isn't interested in revealing anything from the trials. Maybe that's why they've been so silent these years

[Thinning87]

yeah that's kind of important, also because there is also one article as far as I know that mentiones phase 2A, while others only generally mention "clinical trials on humans" or not even that.

I wonder if it's possible to test something and have the FDA keep everything private.

[FearTheLoss]

Can anyone confirm that Follica is in Phase IIA? I don't see them in the clinical trials website and this is the first time I hear about them being so advanced in the trials

Yeah, I was looking for it too and couldn't find it. We should confirm this before getting all excited from a news report.

[Arashi]

Hmmm I think Thinning is right here, as this is gene therapy, I dont think it's in the leagues of KaneShop - but its worth a shot hey?

Nah ,it's just a wnt growth factor, just like Dr Nigams has been using. The therapy itself is slightly different since they apply the growth factor after inducing small wounds, but it doesn't seem you have to be a professor to figure out how to do that

[bigentries]

Can anyone confirm that Follica is in Phase IIA? I don't see them in the clinical trials website and this is the first time I hear about them being so advanced in the trials

[clandestine]

I think the forum needed a little good news and positivity. Looking better.