I believe in it because of the people behind it. People outside of the UK might not appreciate the high regard that both the university and the sponsors backing the TRX 2 project have. Also, unlike a lot of shady scams, the company is based in Europe (predominantly the UK and Germany) where it will be reasonably well regulated compared to, say, the USA or the Developing and Third World.
Oxford University is just not the type of institution that would back a scammer, and Whitfield remains involved in their glycobiology department. His expertise was originally in potassium ion channels and their role in diabetes and hepatitis, but of course they also play an important role in hair growth as minoxidil arguably demonstrates. So, it's not like he's involved in the wrong science.
The lack of pictures is frustrating, however I can at least appreciate why they cannot provide these. UK patent law, and EU patent law for that matter, is very anal. The minute you publicise anything about what your product looks like, how it works or what results you've got, it becomes nye on impossible to patent your product. In other words, once people know about your product, if it's not already patented it belongs to the public. The internet itself is a classic example of that, though Tim Berners Lee never wanted to patent it anyway.
10-25-2010 03:27 AM
KeepTheHair
So it will first be out in 2011? Then you prob have to wait 5 months to see if it works... damn. This all takes so much time.
I do hope it works though, really do.
10-25-2010 03:32 AM
Fixed by 35
It's a tense time because I'm having a slight shed and I'm a Norwood III with a diffuse Norwood VI pattern emerging. The product is for those who are Norwood I - Norwood IV, so hopefully I won't be too disfigured by January and can use it to good effect!
10-25-2010 07:29 AM
mlao
Fixed by 35, I know you value your privacy and I respect that but if it's successful would you object to posting some photos. It would help us all.
10-25-2010 08:51 AM
River
Fixed by 35.
I enjoy reading your posts, and I think you are clearly an intelligent man. As such, I owe it to you to submit a credible argument outlining why I think that trx2 will fail its users.
From the trx2 website:
Quote:
Potassium ion channels have been implicated in a vast array of diseases ranging from Hepatitis C to Diabetes. These small pore-forming protein structures control the transport of potassium ions across the hair follicle’s cell membrane and are essential for retaining the follicle’s full biological activity and function.
The recent discovery that potassium ion channels exist within the dermal papilla cells of human hair follicles provided a novel therapeutic target for researchers.
TRX2 scientists have demonstrated that as people experience hair loss the function of potassium channels within hair follicles diminishes. The effect is impaired membrane potential and interrupted ion transportation across the hair follicles cellular membranes – resulting in shrinking follicles and thinning hair.
By restoring the functionality of potassium ion channels that have broken down over time, our proprietary TRX2™ Molecular Hair Growth Supplement has been proven to restore hair follicle growth and postpone the progression of hair loss in patients suffering from the early stages of hair loss (Norwood 1-4). It truly is the first product of its kind.
A claim has been made that damage to potassium ion channels within hair follicles causes hair loss. If the ion channels can be repaired, they claim, hair loss can be halted and hair may be restored.
At this point, I would like to point out that we already have a drug like this. It's called finasteride, and it has gone thorugh human trials, and been proven to work, in like a hundred peer reviewed medical journals. As a medication, it has also gone through extensive safety and efficacy testing.
What you may not be aware of is that this extensive testing is not required for all medication. I'm not entirely sure what the situtation is in the U.K., but in Australia, there are two major types of medications; registered medications and listed medications. With registered medications, a company needs human trials, peer reviewed journals and a hell of a lot of evidence to get permission to sell their product.
Listed medications require no where near so much evidence. This is what the vitamin industry relies on. While vitamins are useful for people who have a deficiency, they don't work to prevent hairloss for example. Nonetheless, you often see vitamin companes making absurd claims about how vitamins can assist with a myriad of unrelated conditions. This doesn't prevent their approval from being sold, however.
From what I can tell, TRX2 is being marketed as a dietary supplement. In Australia, this means that they will not have to go through the difficult registered medication process. Rather, they will go through the listed medication process. As such, they will not have to prove that their medication works.
This makes me very suspicous.
10-25-2010 01:41 PM
Dutch_Dude
that trx2 is tablets right? and i think it's available now, isn't it? they don't have pictures either on their website...
10-25-2010 05:23 PM
Fixed by 35
They're selling it as a dietary supplement pending peer reviews etc. And they're much more transparent about that than scammers are. We'll see, I think this is worth a try.
10-25-2010 10:49 PM
Dutch_Dude
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixed by 35
They're selling it as a dietary supplement pending peer reviews etc. And they're much more transparent about that than scammers are. We'll see, I think this is worth a try.
if it's legit, then i is going to order me some on 10 jan. ;)
i hope you could take it together with finasteride though. i read about this guy somewhere before...and if a university participates in such research and products then it couldn't be that big of a scam...
10-26-2010 01:29 AM
Fixed by 35
You can take it with finasteride if you want. Whitfield recommends people replace finasteride with a vitimin supplement not because Propecia isn't the more effective option but because he questions the side effects of the drug and believes they may be severe. He has a point, we know there is a risk, but the option is still ours.
I need to be careful now because I don't want to get a whole board spending a lot of money on junk. Perhaps one or two people would be interested in trialing the product with me, and then we'll report back to the others before everyone makes Whitfield rich?!
10-27-2010 01:56 AM
Dutch_Dude
Quote:
Originally Posted by Fixed by 35
You can take it with finasteride if you want. Whitfield recommends people replace finasteride with a vitimin supplement not because Propecia isn't the more effective option but because he questions the side effects of the drug and believes they may be severe. He has a point, we know there is a risk, but the option is still ours.
I need to be careful now because I don't want to get a whole board spending a lot of money on junk. Perhaps one or two people would be interested in trialing the product with me, and then we'll report back to the others before everyone makes Whitfield rich?!
i don't mind taking it together with you. i guess i'll place my order in the beginning of january then...i'm just afraid of a few things...maybe whitfield's pills do have side effects...maybe they don't even work and it's just a scam...of course you want to believe something works but...i don't know, it seems a little suspicious...what if it interferes with my finasteride?
