Kythera Acquires Rights to PGD2 Blocking Setipriprant for New Hair Loss Treatment

[Gerhard]

pee and poo. No sides.

In other trials it supposedly came back with headaches and some other side effects which I would determine to be rather mild to insignificant. This is good news though. I'm being tentative and cautious with how much optimism I allow myself to feel due to the nature of some individuals posts in this thread. Remember guys, just because their words aren't good news doesn't make them invalid. I'm happy to hear any update good or bad (but primarily good). From what I've read so far we need more time to pass to allow Kythera to showcase their efficacy. In the link to their interview I heard very little discussion on Setipriprant as it mostly focused on their cosmetic injection filler.

We will have to wait for an update as to where they stand on FDA testing. Funding however, thankfully, seems to be less of an issue with Kythera so far. They make it sound affordable and relatively inexpensive for them which means we won't have to deal with as many stalls. I do hope that this does offer a new treatment, but I am making sure not to put too much hope into this. CB showed me how quickly hope can become despair if left there too long. Speaking of CB has anyone actually found a proper vehicle and found conclusive evidence of its efficacy yet?

[sdsurfin]

that link has nothing to do with sides. also i don't think short term sides will be a huge issue. I do think long term sides will be ****ed, if you do your research on other histamine receptor blockers, people go through really horrid withdrawals after trying to stop after long term use. I guess we can cross our fingers that more selective PGD2 blockers won't do the same, but my hopes are not high. Would love to talk to a doctor or researcher about this.

[Gerhard]

that link has nothing to do with sides. also i don't think short term sides will be a huge issue. I do think long term sides will be ****ed, if you do your research on other histamine receptor blockers, people go through really horrid withdrawals after trying to stop after long term use. I guess we can cross our fingers that more selective PGD2 blockers won't do the same, but my hopes are not high. Would love to talk to a doctor or researcher about this.

I'll do some research on them tonight and get back to you. Although I hate the fact that balding struck me and especially at such a young age I can at least admit that it's made me more interested in the science behind dermatological issues such as hair loss and has made me even consider tackling it as a potential career choice if I can manage. For now, I'll leave this thread with this: I hope that by having a more selective blocker that they will enable a less side effect riddled treatment that propecia. Honestly, while I may be taking this, I have come to grips with the fact that what I'm putting in my body for vanity's sake is toxic. While I am cautious for side effects in these PGD2 blockers I would say I'd be more willing to experiment and trial them than I ever would be and am with propecia. The hormonal effects of propecia just seem so much more catastrophic if they come to fruition.

I would also like to say to you personally, sdsurfin, that while your words haven't been widely appreciated in this or a few other topics that I am grateful for your presence and posts on these forums. While we may not want to hear about the potential of ineffective or bum treatments, it is important that we are notified of the possibility of these not coming to bear.

Hopefully Setipriprant will blow us all away. For now I'll remain cautiously optimistic.

[Pentarou]

Half of you are incredible whiners.. The other half, are selfish and inpatient, wanting the product right now by any method and any means. No doubt if you got it and cured your hair loss, you would never come on these forums and help other people out... Time to grow up, this is the most promising news in the last decade at least, in 2012 cotsarelis said trials would start within 2 years, they started In 2013..just one year(they said they have been testing for 2 years already) ! Turns out he is honest after all..

Honestly, I feel optimistic for the future for the first time since about July 2013. Yes, there are still a lot of hurdles ahead, let's be realistic, but otherwise I can't see this as anything but a promising step forward.

[sdsurfin]

thanks man. I'm just trying to help and be realistic. I wish we could just gene edit already and be done with this crap, it's so unfair. See if you can research and ask people whether blocking this receptor long term will cause withdrawal like with zyrtec. Unfortunately i cnt find a contact email for kythera, if i was in san diego i would try to talk to the lead researcher. i think hoping for a side effect free drug is silly though. its amazing that people take propecia without side effects, and I'm not sure this kind of receptor blocker is really good for long term use.

[Gerhard]

thanks man. I'm just trying to help and be realistic. I wish we could just gene edit already and be done with this crap, it's so unfair. See if you can research and ask people whether blocking this receptor long term will cause withdrawal like with zyrtec. Unfortunately i cnt find a contact email for kythera, if i was in san diego i would try to talk to the lead researcher. i think hoping for a side effect free drug is silly though. its amazing that people take propecia without side effects, and I'm not sure this kind of receptor blocker is really good for long term use.

I'm sure all of us wish gene editing was a thing, but that's something I doubt we'll ever live to see. I plan on going to the laboratories tomorrow to actually discuss it with one of the biology professors. I'm curious if they have any insight.
Kythera's email is located on their website, but they seem to only take them if you're a certified healthcare professional. Otherwise they seem to mandate a call. I would agree with you about a side effect free drug, but the aim so far is to find a drug with a more limited amount of side effects with a lower rate of eventually having them.

[sdsurfin]

Please ask your professor about Zyrtec and Claritin withdrawal (if you look online most people who take antihistamines long term seem to get it) and ask if this might cause similar problems. If this doesn't carry that risk then sleepiness and headaches might be the worst you get from it.

[walrus]

If a drug works, technically it is a side effect, only it happens to be a desirable one.

[Thinning@30]

Although I hate the fact that balding struck me and especially at such a young age I can at least admit that it's made me more interested in the science behind dermatological issues such as hair loss

Great comment. I think I know what you mean. I feel like ever since I started balding, I've learned so much about the clinical trial process, the regulatory environment, and the science involved in hair loss, aging, and dermatology issues. As much as it sucks to be going through hair loss, I feel like it has helped me understand the medical and pharmaceutical industries, and I hope it will help me evaluate scientific and medical claims more effectively.

[Slam1523]

Please ask your professor about Zyrtec and Claritin withdrawal (if you look online most people who take antihistamines long term seem to get it) and ask if this might cause similar problems. If this doesn't carry that risk then sleepiness and headaches might be the worst you get from it.

That is so strange to me that those allergy medications have that affect... I had taken zyrtec for years, and went off of it for the past 9 months, and haven't noticed a single side... Crazy to think it can be tied to things like depression and headaches!

[Gerhard]

Please ask your professor about Zyrtec and Claritin withdrawal (if you look online most people who take antihistamines long term seem to get it) and ask if this might cause similar problems. If this doesn't carry that risk then sleepiness and headaches might be the worst you get from it.

I am very interested in this myself due to your postings and will definitely inquire upon it when talking to the professor tomorrow.

Great comment. I think I know what you mean. I feel like ever since I started balding, I've learned so much about the clinical trial process, the regulatory environment, and the science involved in hair loss, aging, and dermatology issues. As much as it sucks to be going through hair loss, I feel like it has helped me understand the medical and pharmaceutical industries, and I hope it will help me evaluate scientific and medical claims more effectively.

I couldn't have phrased that better myself. The amazing thing is is that I've never even considered a career in the medical field before I began whimsically desired to cure myself and others of hair loss. Now it's actually turned into a bit of a pastime and I find myself reading a lot of dermatologic medical journals and scholarly articles. The ironic part is is that when I tried to discuss some of these findings that some people toss around and describe so easily with my dermatologist and a few other dermatologists you quickly begin to understand how little understanding they have in their own field. As you've said it's also been easier to evaluate all medical findings. I hate AGA, I truly, truly do and I would wish it upon no one. It has, however, opened my eyes to a possible career choice and an avenue for achieving it. Whether I'll take it or not remains to be soon. I certainly do hope that by the time I'm old enough to make an impact on the hair loss field that it will already be a thing of the past.

That is so strange to me that those allergy medications have that affect... I had taken zyrtec for years, and went off of it for the past 9 months, and haven't noticed a single side... Crazy to think it can be tied to things like depression and headaches!

Agreed. I'm not too keen on rereading the articles all over again currently, but due to sdsrufin's contributions I am hoping that Setipriprant will bind to receptors just enough to limit PGD2 to normal scalp levels. Otherwise this treatment will need some fine tuning.

[Allowme]

This is what I got from reading this thread.
This will be an alternative to propecia but not necessarily something that will replace it. It was quoted that this is better than propecia, but by how much? I think we would have heard something if its efficacy was markedly better than propecia from all those clinical trials for asthma. And the fact they want to use bim for regrowth makes me believe their efficacy will be somewhat similar. This will definitely benefit people who gets sides from propecia, but not from this drug. But I won't expect it to be much better than propecia. And also cb may be a better alternative with less side effects in the future.
The more interesting question is will you grow more hair if you use this with propecia? There's no way to answer this without a clinical trial, but I feel that there won't be much difference. I know very little about science behind this, but someone mentioned they are part of the same chain, pgd2 is just lower level of that chain. But let's say there is an improvement from using them together. How much improvement does there have to be before it makes sense to use them together? You will be faced with added side effects and costs.
Not to say I'm not excited about this news. More options are always welcome. Some people will definitely benefit from this, especially for women who haven't had real trestment option before this. But I'm not expecting a cure. Also, the most interesting thing from this is that they sound very confident about bim. perhaps bim in conjunction with this drug and/or with dht antagonists will yield good result.

[RGPHILPA]

This is what I got from reading this thread.
This will be an alternative to propecia but not necessarily something that will replace it. It was quoted that this is better than propecia, but by how much? I think we would have heard something if its efficacy was markedly better than propecia from all those clinical trials for asthma. And the fact they want to use bim for regrowth makes me believe their efficacy will be somewhat similar. This will definitely benefit people who gets sides from propecia, but not from this drug. But I won't expect it to be much better than propecia. And also cb may be a better alternative with less side effects in the future.
The more interesting question is will you grow more hair if you use this with propecia? There's no way to answer this without a clinical trial, but I feel that there won't be much difference. I know very little about science behind this, but someone mentioned they are part of the same chain, pgd2 is just lower level of that chain. But let's say there is an improvement from using them together. How much improvement does there have to be before it makes sense to use them together? You will be faced with added side effects and costs.
Not to say I'm not excited about this news. More options are always welcome. Some people will definitely benefit from this, especially for women who haven't had real trestment option before this. But I'm not expecting a cure. Also, the most interesting thing from this is that they sound very confident about bim. perhaps bim in conjunction with this drug and/or with dht antagonists will yield good result.

Well they specifically state in their presentation that they'll be using a novel (patented) technique that Upenn owns the rights to for delivering the drug. Nobody as of yet knows what that novel delivery approach is. So, you can't look at the allergic rhinitis trials and conclude that there will be minimal results for this compound or even have any idea of how effective it could be. This could and should be an entirely different approach.

And if I can engage in a bit of speculation.... I want to point out that one of the novel delivery techniques that Cotsarelis and Upenn have patented, are the wounding protocols that Follica was working on. Upenn has rights to that as well as Follica. Maybe we'll see another licensing deal (which I'm not even sure they need since they're on the patent) go through and this PGD2 compound will be used in conjunction with wounding. That would be a game changer for sure. And there is the not so small coincidence that Follica went silent and laid off their staff right around the time that Kythera, Cotsarelis and Upenn were entering into contracts - approximately two years ago. Right at a time when Bernat Olle from follica was saying they could generate significant hair growth. It makes no sense for them to say that and then go dead and layoff staff unless there was a significant change of direction in their business plan, such as I'm suggesting here.

I would love for that to be true, though I conceded that it may be wishful thinking.

[RGPHILPA]

Also, a bit more evidence supporting my speculation...

Follica has posted Cotsarelis's talk at the World Congress for Hair Research on their web page. The bulk of that talk is about PGD2 and it's role in MPB. He even specifically states that an antagonist could be therapeutically effective for treating baldness. If this recent deal was engaged in outside of Follica's interests (i.e. this recent Kythera development doesn't involve them) why would they post that talk on their website? Clearly Cotsarelis was already involved with Kythera long before that talk was given. So, something is up...

Coincidence or something else?

[kaptainjack]

Even if it turns out to be only as good as Finasteride but without any of the sexual side effects, it's a winner in my books.