Replicel news and answers

[Trouse5858]

I haven't been lurking for long..maybe a year and a half tops so I'll take your word that this forum used to be a ghost town. as far as timelines are concerned, we may be just months from finding out that a drug will be released/ effective, but we're undoubtedly years away from said drug being a viable commercial product which is really why we are all here in my opinion.

[hellouser]

This. The reason Lauster or anyone else couldn't come up with sufficient funding is because the science behind it wasn't making a strong enough case to draw in the investors. Nobody will throw money at it unless they think that money will make them more money; that's a basic truth. Replicel made a strong enough case and Shiseido invested. At this point baldness is being attacked from all angles between Replicel/Shiseido (follicle rehabilitation angle) and Tsuji labs/Replicel/Shiseido/others (follicle neogenesis angle). It's really only a matter of time at this point, and the advances are coming faster than ever. Some will be quick to point out that it's been said many times before, but that's how science and engineering work; it's an exponential graph of achievement and understanding, and just like a puzzle, as more pieces of the puzzle come together, the remaining pieces come together increasingly quickly. Being a "negative Nancy" brings nothing to the table, and you can bet your ass that the skilled people dedicating their careers to this are trying their hardest given that the cure would assure them of professional and financial success. Stay positive, it's almost cracked!

Lauster is further ahead in the cure for baldness than any other doctor in the world. His team was looking for investors for funding to run an in vitro trials. They got denied.

Like I said, baldness is disrespected.

[Renee]

Replicel hasn't even filed paperwork with the appropriate regulatory bodies to begin phase 2.

[Swooping]

I have a feeling that Replicel does a far better job at hyping them self and raising money than growing hair. Just a bunch of guys earning money by playing financial games with quick and smooth talk. But we'll see.

[Renee]

I agree with swooping.

[joachim]

i'm not sure. i have a feeling that replicel has serious intentions. the remaining question is only how effective their technique is.
at least their dermal injector tool is great work and will give dermatologists a brandnew tool to simplify and optimize treatments.

also, their work on tendinosis treatment is promising.

so even if the hairloss treatment doesn't pan out they are definitely a serious company with good intentions, and not dancing around like e.g. histogen or aderans, just wasting all the money they can get.
also, most of their trials are done in germany and austria, where quality standards are very high.

however, it's still possible that their hairloss treatment will be total crap. my hope is that shisheido can improve replicels technology by adding a tweak here and there. shisheido has a lot of great scientists, so maybe they are able to achieve some success.

[Renee]

There are a lot of biotech venture capital firms that will throw money at anybody who has developed a better treatment or cure. If what hellouser is saying is true that lauster got funding denied then his method doesn't work. However, I remember Desmond saying that the lauster team is working on solving the final step and funding is not a problem for them.

[FloydButterworth]

I have a feeling that Replicel does a far better job at hyping them self and raising money than growing hair. Just a bunch of guys earning money by playing financial games with quick and smooth talk. But we'll see.

I suspect Replicel doesn't want this phase II hair trial to happen too soon. They probably already have an idea that their results are going to disappoint and want to draw this out as much as possible to buy time to get their other pipeline projects advancing. It's been 5 years since phase I, which is ridiculous by any measure. I've heard their excuses for the delay, but i don't believe it's the whole truth . My guess, If the hair trial flops and they don't yet have anything else significantly advanced, it could be lights out for them.

I also feel that there are other reasons for Shesheido licensing their technology other than intending to commercialize it directly. There may be some synergies with their IPS research they're conducting that they can take advantage of. At least that's what i'm hoping, because i just don't see much chance for Replicel's technology to work as it exists now.

[Renee]

I agree with floyd, very we'll said. Shishiedo paid pennies to access the science behind replicel technology, which has been researched since 2004.

[Hairismylife]

I always dunno why you guys like to speculate base on your own guessing while official announcement definitely says 2018. Some delays may happen but there's no point to doubt their effectiveness. Japanese won't say something without supporting especially such a large corp.

[Arieux]

@Floyd: Really I can't understand judging Replicel's technology by Phase 1 results, which was projected mainly to show safety on humans. It's not suprising that small dose in one injection didn't give outstanding results. But it gave some results, it works, so think about much more bigger doses and multiple sessions. It's useless to create now sophisticated theories about intentional delaying phase II. Wait plz until the end of this year, as both Replicel and Shiseido say that it will begin this year. I think that only after that phase, in which diffrent doses will be tested, talking about its efficacy will be reasonable.

[luiza]

@Floyd: Really I can't understand judging Replicel's technology by Phase 1 results, which was projected mainly to show safety on humans. It's not suprising that small dose in one injection didn't give outstanding results. But it gave some results, it works, so think about much more bigger doses and multiple sessions. It's useless to create now sophisticated theories about intentional delaying phase II. Wait plz until the end of this year, as both Replicel and Shiseido say that it will begin this year. I think that only after that phase, in which diffrent doses will be tested, talking about its efficacy will be reasonable.

The safety trial was actually done with a really high dosage :/ but only one injection.

The Phase II trial will be done with different dosages and multiple injections. Hopefully it will give better results.

I will only get excited about replicel/shiseido if they prove they can be a full cure and give hair back to NW7.
I am a girl and my hair loss is not THAT bad but I am so sick of treatments. I will only get really happy the day someone tells me it is possible to get pretty much all my hair back.
If they can do it (even if it costs a lot and takes more time) I will be the happiest person in the world.

[xyz123]

I suspect Replicel doesn't want this phase II hair trial to happen too soon. They probably already have an idea that their results are going to disappoint and want to draw this out as much as possible to buy time to get their other pipeline projects advancing. It's been 5 years since phase I, which is ridiculous by any measure. I've heard their excuses for the delay, but i don't believe it's the whole truth . My guess, If the hair trial flops and they don't yet have anything else significantly advanced, it could be lights out for them.

I also feel that there are other reasons for Shesheido licensing their technology other than intending to commercialize it directly. There may be some synergies with their IPS research they're conducting that they can take advantage of. At least that's what i'm hoping, because i just don't see much chance for Replicel's technology to work as it exists now.

I agree completely. No company that believes they have an effective therapy (let alone a cure...) takes this long between Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials. And as soon as their Phase 1 results were released, they made it clear that they were diversifying into skin and tendinosis ventures - not a coincidence...

And the notion that we should feel reassured because Shiseido believes in their technology is wrong. Shiseido paid Replicel $4,200,000 upfront to use their technology - which is a joke in the biotechnology world. The bulk of Shiseido's investment ($31,500,000) is milestone-based, so if the product doesn't work and doesn't sell - Shiseido pays nothing additional.

Replicel's treatment is going to fail. However - as others have highlighted - Shiseido is a legitimate company with substantial financial resources and teams of great scientists that are working on a solution. It is Shiseido's dedication to developing a cure - and NOT Replicel's technology - that makes me feel optimistic. And who knows - maybe they'll pull it off by 2018 like they claim.

Meanwhile - I think there's a reasonable possibility that in 2018, Replicel's Phase 2 trial in Germany will still be "coming soon"...

[Renee]

It's more complicated then taking dsc cells multiplying and injecting. If that was the cure clinics in mexico would already be offering this treatment.

[Swooping]

I agree completely. No company that believes they have an effective therapy (let alone a cure...) takes this long between Phase 1 and Phase 2 trials. And as soon as their Phase 1 results were released, they made it clear that they were diversifying into skin and tendinosis ventures - not a coincidence...

And the notion that we should feel reassured because Shiseido believes in their technology is wrong. Shiseido paid Replicel $4,200,000 upfront to use their technology - which is a joke in the biotechnology world. The bulk of Shiseido's investment ($31,500,000) is milestone-based, so if the product doesn't work and doesn't sell - Shiseido pays nothing additional.

Replicel's treatment is going to fail. However - as others have highlighted - Shiseido is a legitimate company with substantial financial resources and teams of great scientists that are working on a solution. It is Shiseido's dedication to developing a cure - and NOT Replicel's technology - that makes me feel optimistic. And who knows - maybe they'll pull it off by 2018 like they claim.

Meanwhile - I think there's a reasonable possibility that in 2018, Replicel's Phase 2 trial in Germany will still be "coming soon"...

WHAT?! They only paid 4.2 million? Ok, that is terrible what a joke.

It's more complicated then taking dsc cells multiplying and injecting. If that was the cure clinics in mexico would already be offering this treatment.

I agree it just seems way too easy.. way too easy. Hopefully we will be surprised though.