WCHR 2014 Presentations (Community-funded)

[Phatalis]

If there's a cure we need to have a cure party.

And just get schwasteeddd

...one day

[Tacola]

From all of my heart, thank you Desmond for covering this!

For a long while, I have managed to keep away from the forums and just try to focus on other things, but now...this just makes me so happy! I`m really happy for all of us that there might be some positive news in the making. And by that I mean really and finaly some definitive positive news!

I can`t wait to read more about all the news that Desmond bring us!!

Thank you, thank you, thank you! Keep the good work going!

[hgs1989]

hi desmond,

really thank you for your efforts. did you manage to conclude a timeline from Dr Atac and Dr Lindner or any promising treatment that is coming soon ?

[ytterligare]

Thanks Desmond, that's amazing. I can't conenctrate anymore at work guessing what crazy stuff you'll be exploring next.

[Desmond84]

Hi guys today's talks are over. Yay

There is so much information being presented that I can't even keep up with everything. I have recorded all the key talks regarding AGA so far and the talks all convey the samemessage: "Many teams seem to have solved the DP culturing problem and have maintained the genetic markers necessary for hair formation."

That is definitely a big plus.

Also, after having talked to many of the attendees it seems that some of these guys solved this problem years ago and have gone beyond this preliminary research to much grander attempts. When I asked why they did not publish it they said in order to keep other competitors in the dark! Really crazy stuff

And now, as you requested I tracked down Dr Cotsarelis at the end of today and had a chat with him about the burning matters. Again he did not want to go on camera for reasons already mentioned but was glad to talk face to face. So here's what he had to say:

1) Follica's phase 2 trial completed recently with promising results. But they have insufficient funds to continue with further trials. So at this point everything has been put on hold.

2) When I asked him if the rumours were true that the company that conducted the trials on behalf of Follica was found to falsify data and is being sued. He laughed and denied any such matters. So the data they collected is definitely valid I suppose.

3) I brought up the crowdfunding idea particularly with regards to Follica and he said the amount necessary is quite large. So I insisted on an actual amount and here's what he said: "US $2 million would bring out a product that would be more effective than Minoxidil and Propecia but would not give a bald person a full head of hair. US $20 million will provide the kind of funding necessary to give someone who is already bald a full head of hair but it will take more years to accomplish".

4) Also he did say that a full blown cure using Follica's method for an already bald person is still many years away.

5) Regarding the PGD2 approach and the current blockers that are in trials, i mentioned how they are failing to show much benefit in Asthma and trials are being stopped one at a time he seemed very optimistic and believed that is a great thing for hair because companies in general try to keep the number of trials to the minimum. The more trials you do the greater the chances for an adverse effect to be found. He believes that is the best thing that could have happened and may finally give these companies enough willpower to start a trial in hair regeneration.

6) And finally I brought up fgf9 and its potentials. He believes fgf9 is still a very new discovery with many years of preclinical research ahead of it, when I asked for an estimated date he said at least 10 years. He then went on to mention that just to go from Rogaine liquid to Rogaine foam it took the company over 8 years of studies and data collection before they were allowed to sell it and Minoxidil has been on the market for many years. Now imagine if we are trying to bring out a completely new agent. The timeframes are quite long indeed.

So all in all, Dr Cotsarelis seemed less enthusiastic than some of the others but I guess we kind of had gathered that with Follica being silent for extended periods at a time. But do not let that put you in despair as there are many many other approaches are being trialled and tested. Dr Atac & Linder really gave me a lot of hope about the possibilities in the near future.

Btw with regards to the timelines with the German microchip technology, they really didn't want to say anything about timelines which is undrestandable. But from what I could gather in terms of hair regeneration they are at least 3-4 years away from beginning a Phase 1 trial. I will elaborate more on that a bit later once they are happy with what I'm saying

Also, audio & video quality of the talks seem very good. I'm having a bit of trouble with transferring it into premiere pro to edit the videos. I may have to take the videos back to Oz and ask my friends to help me with the editing in which case you guys may have to wait at least another week to watch them. I'm really sorry about that but this whole codec formats and frames pr second options are like a foreign language to me lol.

Well, that's it for me today ladies and gentlemen. Going to grab some dinner and do a bit of trekking.

Hopefully I will have some more exciting news for you guys tomorrow Im gonna have a few drinks after talking to some of the smartest ppl I have ever come across...what a day

Love you guys

Desmond.

[Thinning87]

I don't understand Cotsarelis. $2 million is creaking change. It's a freaking home in a decent area in Southern California. They can't find $2 freaking million to bring out a product that is better than anything available now? Which by the way is enough to generate a business worth billions of dollars?

Not that $20 million is a big investment... For a hair loss cure it shouldn't be hard to come up with that kind of money.

I say we can raise $2 millions in all the forums. In a year we can do it.

[JulioGP]

I totally agree with Thinning87.

For investors, $ 2 million dollars is nothing so difficult. Still say that $ 20 million dollars either.

Develop anything better than Minoxidil and Propecia would be a big step, do not understand why so much trouble in this investment.

[20goingon50]

I don't understand. Surely they would easily be able to raise 2 million dollars for a product that would return that in a matter of days when released. That simply doesn't make sense to me and seems a little fishy as in my opinion if it was truly more effective than minox and propecia they would be fighting to get these things sorted as quickly as possible.

On another note,

THANK YOU DESMOND. Really inspiring what you are doing here and your information on your meeting with Dr. Atac and Dr. Linder truly made me very happy, as i didn't think we would have much to look forward to in the near future.

The idea that these companies are actually working as hard as they can to find a cure for this horrible disease, to the point they keep their own findings in the dark as to not give competitors ideas of what they're doing can give us all hope (though in an ideal world they would share their information as their main priority would be to help balding people not make as much money as they can). It seems some of these companies are a few years ahead of where we predicted.

Here's to hope and once again thank you Desmond. Keep the good news coming

[Thinning87]

I like the optimism but to me this is a Waterloo. Sorry. But we went from "we can consistently create new hair follicles" in June 2013 to "things are on hold because we can't find $2 million".

Follica was supposed to be much closer than this. They were supposed to be testing fgf9 on humans by now, evaluating clinical trials for this method.

These Germans are 3-4 years away from a phase 1 clinical trial.

Damn.

[walrus]

Follica was supposed to be much closer than this. They were supposed to be testing fgf9 on humans by now, evaluating clinical trials for this method.

Says who?

[Tacola]

Either way, all the news is a big step in the right direction.

A question: If it somehow would be possible to gather enough money so that Follica could release a product, how long will it take before this product becomes availible? There should not be any kind of problem gather this from an investor.

If this could come out and be more effective and same than those we have today, this would be a giant leap in the right direction and somehow a lifeline to hold on to while people are waiting for the "big thing".

I dunno who will come up with the cure. It can be Linder & Co, or it can come from the dark.

Thanks Desmond for sharing! Well earned drinks to night!

[Arashi]

First of all: wow Desmond, making friends with the top of the top researchers in the field, that's just beyond awesome This trip is yielding so much more than I had hoped for.

Now about what you said:

so far and the talks all convey the samemessage: "Many teams seem to have solved the DP culturing problem and have maintained the genetic markers necessary for hair formation."

Then my question is (and please ask that to everybody) -> if we can culture DP cells to maintain the genetic info necessary for hair formation, then what's keeping us from a cure ? I mean, isn't it all about what Jahoda and Tsuji proved, that combining DP + epithelial cells = new hair ? And if it's not simple like that, then what is the current problem ?

Thanks Desmond and keep it up man

[Hicks]

3) I brought up the crowdfunding idea particularly with regards to Follica and he said the amount necessary is quite large. So I insisted on an actual amount and here's what he said: "US $2 million would bring out a product that would be more effective than Minoxidil and Propecia but would not give a bald person a full head of hair.

Thanks man! Keep this up.

$2 million for a product that would be more effective than Minoxidil and Propecia. 3 things come to mind.

1. You're buying snake oil

2. It's already on the market some how. They just need to find a way to market it as "New"

3. BS

[hellouser]

3) I brought up the crowdfunding idea particularly with regards to Follica and he said the amount necessary is quite large. So I insisted on an actual amount and here's what he said: "US $2 million would bring out a product that would be more effective than Minoxidil and Propecia but would not give a bald person a full head of hair. US $20 million will provide the kind of funding necessary to give someone who is already bald a full head of hair but it will take more years to accomplish".

2 million dollars is an easy amount to collect given a global reach. Think of it this way; if only 1 out of 50 US citizens gave 50 cents, we'd have $3 million already... but we still have the rest of the world to reach out to.

This is a really easy goal.

Question now is; supposed we had that kind of money today and Follica was able to start phase III trials today; how long would Phase III take and how long before we'd be able to go in for treatment?

[youngin]

Thanks for all your hard work Desmond. This is very time consuming.