Something to consider about Follica and others.

[sdsurfin]

no

So I have just spent the last hour or so going through all the Follica threads on here and in conclusion no one has a F*cking clue.


Some people claiming to have emails saying they are not doing any clinical trials, the website doesn't say anything just a chart that shows they are in clinical trials, others think they have gone back to phase one adding fgf9 and some people think they will be open for consumers this year or next.

No one really knows anything its just an up and down of emotions,

Don't know if anyone can add anything else or has any evidence to suggest exactly what the crocodile hat they are upto

Not true. I have emailed with them, and they said they are not in clinical trials. What is so hard to understand about that? They are still trying to find the right chemical for blocking the PGD2 receptor, and probably also playing with the fg9 discovery. that financial website with the timeline doesnt mean jack, they don't update it. I've emailed with Dr. Garza and he basically said that their work is incredibly hard and time consuming, and that he has no idea when or if a product will come out. Bimatoprost and probably rogaine too to some extent work on the prostaglandin pathway. So there is definitely a lot of promise and evidence that playing with PGD2 can have an effect. I think an educated guess at this point is that we will have better therapies for maintaining hair in the next ten years. They now know for the first time which protein and signaling pathways are involved in hair loss. creating many new follicles is probably possible (according to people like dr. xu), but no one really knows how long it will take scientists to be able to create new DP cells and make viable follicles. It will happen, but who knows when, and if that will be relevant to our lifetimes. there is a shit ton of work to be done. my guess is sometime in the next 30 years, you'll be able to get new hair. But between bimatoprost, CB, replicel, histogen, other PGD2 compounds etc etc, I doubt it should take more than another decade to get much better treatments to keep existing hair. which is something.

[brocktherock]

They came out last year and said they can consistently grow new hair. They admitted that it went through trials and we found that it was in Germany and kept secret, the point of this thread was to show that they are up to something and they obviously are trying to fly under the radar. They wont gain a penny from making false claims because they are funded by puretech and Bernat Olle from puretech was the one who announced their progress. That Dr. Garza interview was inconsistent with the things we know now, he wasn't even aware they had and trials at all which is proof that he either is lying or ignorant on the current status. I think the evidence is overwhelming that they have something but the timeline and the success of their approach remains to be seen.

[Sogeking]

They came out last year and said they can consistently grow new hair. They admitted that it went through trials and we found that it was in Germany and kept secret, the point of this thread was to show that they are up to something and they obviously are trying to fly under the radar. They wont gain a penny from making false claims because they are funded by puretech and Bernat Olle from puretech was the one who announced their progress. That Dr. Garza interview was inconsistent with the things we know now, he wasn't even aware they had and trials at all which is proof that he either is lying or ignorant on the current status. I think the evidence is overwhelming that they have something but the timeline and the success of their approach remains to be seen.

Srry but I think it is wishful thinking on your part.

[hellouser]

Not true. I have emailed with them, and they said they are not in clinical trials. What is so hard to understand about that? They are still trying to find the right chemical for blocking the PGD2 receptor, and probably also playing with the fg9 discovery. that financial website with the timeline doesnt mean jack, they don't update it. I've emailed with Dr. Garza and he basically said that their work is incredibly hard and time consuming, and that he has no idea when or if a product will come out. Bimatoprost and probably rogaine too to some extent work on the prostaglandin pathway. So there is definitely a lot of promise and evidence that playing with PGD2 can have an effect. I think an educated guess at this point is that we will have better therapies for maintaining hair in the next ten years. They now know for the first time which protein and signaling pathways are involved in hair loss.

Wasn't it already mentioned on this forum that Dr. Garza is NOT affiliated with Follica and doesn't speak for their timelines?

creating many new follicles is probably possible (according to people like dr. xu), but no one really knows how long it will take scientists to be able to create new DP cells and make viable follicles. It will happen, but who knows when, and if that will be relevant to our lifetimes. there is a shit ton of work to be done. my guess is sometime in the next 30 years, you'll be able to get new hair. But between bimatoprost, CB, replicel, histogen, other PGD2 compounds etc etc, I doubt it should take more than another decade to get much better treatments to keep existing hair. which is something.

According as in, you have doubts? Because the following article from the University of Pennsylvania, one that Dr. Cotsarelis does he research at, confirms the findings of DP cells being reproduced:

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/xu/

So... that 30 year mark you give is speculation and basically rather hoping for the worse instead of progressive efforts. Not sure why you would will yourself to think this way.

[sdsurfin]

Wasn't it already mentioned on this forum that Dr. Garza is NOT affiliated with Follica and doesn't speak for their timelines?



According as in, you have doubts? Because the following article from the University of Pennsylvania, one that Dr. Cotsarelis does he research at, confirms the findings of DP cells being reproduced:

http://www.uphs.upenn.edu/news/News_Releases/2014/01/xu/

So... that 30 year mark you give is speculation and basically rather hoping for the worse instead of progressive efforts. Not sure why you would will yourself to think this way.

that article talks about epithelial cells being created from stem cells. not DP cells. Ive talked to dr. xu and he says that it's probably possible to create more DP cells in the future too, but they haven't done that yet. right now they can take DP cells from your head and culture them and retain some inductivity. thats what the findings at the hair congress will tell you. this is all a far cry for making many new whole follicles. to do that you need to make more DP cells.

[Thinning87]

What's the status on the crowd funding for Xu?

[hellouser]

What's the status on the crowd funding for Xu?

Nothing yet, its a premature initiative anyway as there's no concrete answer if a collaborative effort between dr. jahoda and dr. xu has happened to prove a theoretical method of recreating follicles combining their findings.

Once we know we have a sure fire future, thats when we make a push. Right now it'd be basically shooting in the dark. Hopefully Desmond can help us get those answers.

[sdsurfin]

crowdfunding

Nothing yet, its a premature initiative anyway as there's no concrete answer if a collaborative effort between dr. jahoda and dr. xu has happened to prove a theoretical method of recreating follicles combining their findings.

Once we know we have a sure fire future, thats when we make a push. Right now it'd be basically shooting in the dark. Hopefully Desmond can help us get those answers.

Still waiting for the university to give Dr. Xu the go ahead. Once that happens we can get it going. Personally I don't care to wait to see which team is furthest ahead, since that's going to be impossible to tell with limited information that they provide. Dr. Xu is making epithelial cells and wants to make whole follicles- not only that but it's his teams main research goal. Also he's the only researcher that has offered to work with a crowdfunding team. that's enough for me to try backing him. Don't really need hellousers approval on this and hoping that you'll all lend a hand.

[hellouser]

Still waiting for the university to give Dr. Xu the go ahead. Once that happens we can get it going. Personally I don't care to wait to see which team is furthest ahead, since that's going to be impossible to tell with limited information that they provide. Dr. Xu is making epithelial cells and wants to make whole follicles- not only that but it's his teams main research goal. Also he's the only researcher that has offered to work with a crowdfunding team. that's enough for me to try backing him. Don't really need hellousers approval on this and hoping that you'll all lend a hand.

It's not about my approval though. It's about careful planning and strategic execution of something thats on such a large scale. You/We cannot half ass this. I remember when I was working for a marketing agency, we got hired by a hospital to a cancer fund campaign, similar to 'Run for Cancer Research' type thing. It took us a year and half (not kidding) from initial talks with the hospital until the program was officially launched with a team of designers, account execs, writers, etc. Now, mind you this was localized to Toronto only, however the event DID raise over 2 million dollars. Given that we'd have a global audience with a hair loss campaign, I'm sure we could raise more than that.

[hellouser]

Something to consider about Follica that perhaps many of us haven't given much thought;

Hair transplants are largely expensive due to the time required by the doctor. Harvesting grafts is most time consuming, but implanting the grafts is tedious as well, hence the 6-12 hours it takes depending on the number of grafts required (small vs. mega-session). An 8 hour hair transplant will obviously be costly, despite the lack of complicated equipment and tools; hair transplants really aren't that complicated.

So here's where Follica comes into play that will be a potentially big relief;

- No harvesting of grafts.
- No implanting of grafts.


That tedious 6+ hour timeframe isn't necessary anymore. I imagine that the wounding of the scalp will be fairly simple and injections of necessary growth factors (FGF9, WNT, etc) will be pretty quick as well.

What I'm curious about is if the amount of hair grown after wounding is dependant on the dosage of the growth factors. For example, 1mg of FGF9 grows 100 follicles.... or something like that.

I don't see the procedure as taking very long, so hopefully the pricing of their method won't be astronomical.

In fact, should their method work, this is actually potentially a much quicker process for creating hair than via stem cells; punch biopsy, culturing and multiplying cells, follicles grows than they are implanted back to the scalp. That sounds like a rather LONG process and it will requires careful and time consuming implanting of grafts.

I really hope Follica is further ahead in their trials and schedule than what it says on Puretech Venture's website.

[joely]

I really hope Follica is further ahead in their trials and schedule than what it says on Puretech Venture's website.

I wish I knew what their version of "VERY CLOSE" is, I think it may be a fraction different to my version

[hellouser]

I wish I knew what their version of "VERY CLOSE" is, I think it may be a fraction different to my version

They've been going on with research for about 7 years and are supposed to be using known chemicals for treatments. If thats the case, it sounds like they really are trying to expedite the trials. I doubt it'll be this year or next... but I honestly don't think they are far off. But thats why its so important for us to know where the hell we stand with their progress. I could go in for an HT today and get it all completely over with and then go in for a 'top up' with Follica years later when its released and live my life without daily applications of topical crap.

I do hope Desmond's participation in the congress and potential meeting with Dr. Cotsarelis will give us some insight and a clear path for solutions in the meantime.

[joely]

If they are using chemicals that are already known to be safe and don't need any further testing I don't see why they could not just do I big trial with a few hundred participants at different doses and some with more injections down the line and see what gives the results they are after, I know its abit like, throw it all and see what sticks but would that not just work,

All this is assuming they have something that works and are going to brig it to market, if they do you will see plane fulls of bald headed single men on their way to them

[hgs1989]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/healthnews/9485807/Baldness-cure-could-be-on-shelves-in-two-years.html

they have been talking with major drug companies to sell their technology to. one thing to take from this is that their technology really works. looking at the patents, puretech pipeline, and news headlines, it can be said they are really close. don't know why people come here to say it is far when we have all these signs that points to a close launch. I might be wrong but i'd rather believe what is obvious instead of hoping for the worst.

[hellouser]

http://www.telegraph.co.uk/health/he...two-years.html

they have been talking with major drug companies to sell their technology to. one thing to take from this is that their technology really works. looking at the patents, puretech pipeline, and news headlines, it can be said they are really close. don't know why people come here to say it is far when we have all these signs that points to a close launch. I might be wrong but i'd rather believe what is obvious instead of hoping for the worst.

That's the PGD2 by Dr. Cotsarelis, its separate form Follica's wounding method.