Follica

[garethbale]

If you care now, you will care when you're 30 too. Your brain doesn't automatically think "oh I'm 30 now don't give a shit about my hairloss anymore"
Doesn't work like that.

This

I turned 29 last month and I care as much (if not more) now as I did when I was 22. In fact, I shouldn't have cared when I was 22 as my hair loss was hardly noticeable. It still isn't that noticeable though my hair line has receded. You think late 20s early 30s is ages away but it isn't, and it comes fast.

You might be lucky in that by the time you are 30, there may be a very effective treatment. I'm hoping it will be sooner.

[TheSwingingGate]

Well said, last 3 posters.

I think sometimes people believe that "when you are older you will be in a certain place" where it all shouldn't matter. To quote a wise man, "Life - you can't plan it." Aesthetics matter, granted to some more than others.

Losing your hair should never be assumed to be "easier" at any age.

[Pentarou]

I think the blog is (unfortunately) just regurgitating press releases/poor journalism. There's a brief interview with Dr Garza just published recently on another hair loss forum, and if we accept his answers as truthful, then Follica sound far, far behind. I'm now even doubting that they are in clinical trials at all.

[garethbale]

I think the blog is (unfortunately) just regurgitating press releases/poor journalism. There's a brief interview with Dr Garza just published recently on another hair loss forum, and if we accept his answers as truthful, then Follica sound far, far behind. I'm now even doubting that they are in clinical trials at all.

Yeah I saw his interview. His answers seemed quite evasive so I'm hoping that he (and Follica) are just keeping their cards close to their chest.

[hellouser]

I think the blog is (unfortunately) just regurgitating press releases/poor journalism. There's a brief interview with Dr Garza just published recently on another hair loss forum, and if we accept his answers as truthful, then Follica sound far, far behind. I'm now even doubting that they are in clinical trials at all.

Why would Follica's own financial backing PUBLICLY lie about their clinical trials status on their own website?

[Desmond84]

Wow! Just read Dr Garza's replies...it pretty much confirms that no human trials are currently being conducted. They are still in the preclinical phase, working on pathogenesis of MPB and possible counteractions!

On another note, having studied Drug Development, I know several top researchers in the field of Arthritis and Autoimmune disease, and to be fair Dr Garza's responses was in the same tune!

Most of these amazing scientists do NOT get sufficient funding to take their ideas further, leaving them just to publish some journal articles and move on! Dr Garza response like:

"Do you plan on testing(in the clinical trial) pro-growth factors (eg pge2) as well?

In the future If I had the funding I would do this."

is a clear indication that he lacks funding to proceed with any of their latest breakthroughs!

I think all in all, we shouldn't expect Follica to release a groundbreaking therapy before 2020 either. Unfortunately, they are NOT in any human trials, and any of their FGF-9 and WNT ideas requires a 3-phased trial before being released to the market!

Sometimes truth hurts BUT it's much better to know and do something about it than having all your dreams shattered the way Aderans did!

CB-03-01 & Histogen should be the only treatments that we may get our hands on before 2020.

[hellouser]

Wow! Just read Dr Garza's replies...it pretty much confirms that no human trials are currently being conducted. They are still in the preclinical phase, working on pathogenesis of MPB and possible counteractions!

That article posted makes no mention about Garza, in fact here's an excerpt:

Indeed, Follica has already done preclinical and clinical trials, says [co-founder Bernat] Olle, “all of which confirm that we can consistently create new hair follicles in mice and in humans. As far as I know, no other approach has been able to achieve that.”

Again, why would Puretech Ventures lie publicly about Follica's status? And why would you guys believe Garza over Follica's own co-founder who basically confirms Puretech's status on Follica?

Why are you guys so quick to believe the negative rather than the positive straight from the source.... the very top source from Follica?

[HairBane]

Even after reading the interview I still think Follica are working on something and are doing clinical trials for it right now (or are inbetween say, IIa and IIb or something). It could be that Garza just doesn't know all the information (he doesn't seem to know that they already tested lithium + wounding), or that he's trying to be coy and not give anything away. He says treatment would be years away rather than months, but we already expected that.

The strongest piece of evidence is that Follica's financial backers are publicly stating that they're IN THE MIDDLE of human clinical trials. BTT podcast seemed to confirm that they've grown hair on humans in current clinical trials. The FGF-9 and PGE2 stuff is totally separate to whatever they're doing now. Again, we knew that they're first product wouldn't be perfect, and the later iterations of it, utilizing FGF-9 would improve the process.

Even if Follica do fail, I think there will definitely be something before 2017 that is really effective, particularly for low Norwoods (and if Nigam is right, that means for everyone who has the money and the will). HSC, Replicel, CB and probably a load more with less marketing that I don't know about. Maybe it will be a combination of these therapies that cures us. Whatever happens, things are going to get better.

[youngin]

I mean, if I was 30 I wouldn't give a shit, but I'm 22. I'm very thankful that it seems the only thing I didn't do pretty alright with in the gene pool was MPB, but at this early of an age that's all people will notice.

I was a NW6 by the time I was 25. So theres that.

[hellouser]

I mean, if I was 30 I wouldn't give a shit, but I'm 22. I'm very thankful that it seems the only thing I didn't do pretty alright with in the gene pool was MPB, but at this early of an age that's all people will notice.

I'm turning 30 in February. I care more now than when I did a couple years ago. Nearing 30 and being single makes me nervous and depressed as hell. YOU might not care, but many others will. Your assumption doesn't apply to everyone.

[Axel]

I mean, if I was 30 I wouldn't give a shit, but I'm 22. I'm very thankful that it seems the only thing I didn't do pretty alright with in the gene pool was MPB, but at this early of an age that's all people will notice.

I'm 32 and more worried than ever cos the loss is starting to be noticeable... I'm going through the initial stages of people telling me: hey, you're balding!

It sucks...... at 20, at 30, and 40

[hellouser]

Here's the interview with Dr. Garza:

Q: Do you have an update on your latest research about fgf-9?

No please refer to Dr. Cotsarelis Nature Medicine paper.


Q: MPB hair follicles grow as normal on immunodeficient mice is this because they do not produce pgd2?

That would be one guess that is potentially true given what we know.

Q: Why dont transplanted hairs get affected by pgd2?

The PGD2 does not travel very far, like all prostaglandins. Since transplanted hair bring their own dermis, they are spaced well from the high PGD2 follicles.

Q: Do you plan on testing(in the clinical trial) pro-growth factors (eg pge2) as well?

In the future If I had the funding I would do this.

Q: have you tested available substances on animal or human models to examine what happens when PGD2 or the GPR44 is inhibited.

We have no information on that at this moment.

Q:what is your opinion about replicel.com & aderansresearch.com

Good ideas. Hopefully they work

Qoes wounding and lithium grow terminal hairs?

Possible but we do not know.

Q:-You have demonstrated that Neogenesis+Lithium creates "neogenic-like" hair follicles in vivo in humans. Do these automatically become terminal hairs or is there another treatment necessary?

Not published yet so impossible to speculate.

Q:* Do you know anything about how your procedure will work on scalp areas which have already had HT work? Is normal HT recipient area scarring a major roadblock, possibly decreasing the density of the patch of new follicles generated? Growth direction issues? Etc? HT scarring varies from patient to patient but do you have any general comments?

HT should be fully compatible with any new technologies.

Q: in order to increase fgf9 what did you use in your experiments.

so far only wnts have been shown to turn on fgf9

and last one
Q:I want your future prediction about Is Follica going to put a breakthrough hair loss treatment into the marketplace in the next few months or years?

I would say years.

Who the hell is this guy and why would anyone take his word over Follica's?

[yeahyeahyeah]

I'm 32 and more worried than ever cos the loss is starting to be noticeable... I'm going through the initial stages of people telling me: hey, you're balding!

It sucks...... at 20, at 30, and 40

My greatest fear.

[reckless]

I still care and I'm 30!

I think after 40-43 is when it may be ok to be bald.

Look at most pop stars today, they are in their 20s and 30s because those are the youth years.

[Pentarou]

Why would Follica's own financial backing PUBLICLY lie about their clinical trials status on their own website?

Exactly! None of this adds up.

IMO, we really need to be careful about taking the recent Follica patents too seriously, or as if they are some kind of master blueprint. They may turn out to be useful, but then again, Follica be may be patent trolling.

It's all so crushingly depressing. I thought with Follica's recent announcements, and with the recent dermarolling protocol (based around wounding/repair, Cotsarelis-influenced) we were getting somewhere.