Big Pharma's holding cure?

[RichardDawkins]

Yes and no, right now people are rethinking and regenerative abilities are taking place.

Nobody needs to have a scar these days

[DepressedByHairLoss]

True, it does take a lot to get new experiments off the ground, but what autologous stem cell treatments? They are not even illegal here in the U.S. but no one is willing to try them. I've heard about bone marrow stem cells being used to activate the faulty stem cells in the scalp, thereby regenerating new hair. As I said before, autologous stem cell treatments are not illegal yet no doctor is even trying them. They're too busy making money off of these archaic scarring hair transplants. True about 'keeping the faith'; I have to otherwise I'll wind up six feet under in my despair. At least people like Drs. Cotsarelis, Cooley, and Greco are looking for cellular methods to regenerate hair. And with regards to getting a lot of these discoveries off the ground, most of them have not even been 'attempted' to be applied to humans. Noggin, BMP inhibitors, cyclosporine, laminin-511, none of these have even attempted to be tested on humans. Unfortunately it is all about money, and people like us with genetic disorders that we cannot control have to suffer.

[Follicle Death Row]

Well Histogen are seemingly going down the Wnt pathway route. Aderans are looking to give us back healthy cells by multiplication of working cells. Many ways to skin a cat. Regenerative medicine is about to explode over the next 10 years. We can grow bladders in a lab from a sample of tissue half the size of a postage stamp. The whole rejection issue will be eradicated. They've also grown and transplanted a windpipe. Blood vessels and heart valves are possible. Within 5 years we'll have the first patients to get a new lab grown kidney, pancreas or liver. Within 10 years hair too, no question. Even if it's not for our cosmetic wants initially, burn victims would benefit massively from such a break through.

10-15 years ago when they said "5 years" they really had no clue. The science is now there.

[DepressedByHairLoss]

What really frustrates me is that growing a bladder, transplanting a windpipe, and growing a kidney is so much more complex than growing hair, yet no one has been able to grow cosmetically viable hair yet. I applaud companies like Histogen and Trichoscience for the work that they're doing, yet I'm a bit skeptical of Aderans. They're using their procedures in conjunction with transplantation and we all know that transplantation causes permanent scarring. They're affiliated with Bosley and we all know what a shitty reputation Bosley has. A lot of people 'in the know' say that growing hair is 'extremely complex' yet of course they're going to say that. If the industry as a whole hasn't either developed an effective treatment or created a cure for something, of course they're going to give some excuse, such as 'its a very complex issue', as to why we don't have any effective options to regrow hair. As I've said so many times before, it is just extremely inexcusable that in today's day and age (where we're regrowing fingers and having sex changes for God's sake!) that all we have are such shitty options like Rogaine, Propecia, and hair transplants. It's unbelievable to me that with all the money to be made from regrowing hair (I'd fly around the world and spend a ridiculous amount of money to regrow my hair), we only have a very small handful of people trying to cure hair loss. That's just very fishy to me. We really have the technology to offer much better options than Rogaine, Propecia, or hair transplants. I have heard of other potent stem cells being injected in the scalp to stimulate hair regrowth. Scientists even found a way to stem cells embryonic-like qualities so that they would function like did in an embryonic state and thereby not have any defects like the defective stem cells we have that cannot produce full hair anymore. People should really be trying this stuff NOW! I know plenty of people who would NEVER get a hair transplant yet we just jump at the chance if a more effective solution arose. I read a statistic once where only like 5 percent of men who are losing their hair attempt to treat it by buying Rogaine or Propecia, or going for a hair transplant. That is so understandable since today's options are such utter garbage and don't do much of anything. It's just really inexcusable and perplexing that we don't have better options to treat hair loss today.

[Losing_It]

@DepressedByHairloss,

From your posts I can see that its been really difficult for you to lose your hair. I am hoping just like you that something does come out within the next 5 years, and just like you I am willing to spend whatever needs to be spend on real regrowth.

I do have to disagree that hair loss (MPB) is a genetic fault. I am no palaeo-anthropologists but I do know a few of them since I am in a related field. Our species evolution has generally been towards lesser body hair. Lets be honoust here, our species survival does not depend on scalp hair. Ok lets look at it this way, humans have been anatomically modern for only the last 100k years, 99% of that time we had a pretty low life expectancy, not to many people over 50 years of age. Unless you were going to be a norwood 6/7, you would still have had some hair at age 50, if you made it that far.

The interesting question for me is what genetic mutations occurred during the last 80 thousand years that led certain populations to be more prone to balding than others?

I have to agree that big Pharm are only concerned about managing diseases rather than curing them. Nothing against the hard working scientists who try there best.

[RichardDawkins]

@DBH : The problem is not about "its more complex" even hair follicles are mini organs.

But hair loss is not considered important because its cosmetically one and we all know that people have problems at all with cosmetical surgerys. All the research we hear about right now, is based on coincidences while looking for something other then a hair loss solution, face it.

And thats the reason, why we already would have something if people wuld have been fosuccing on this a few years ago.

What this lauster guy from germany got, could be a reality for a longer time, if they had focus on it.

You really wanna know why right now there is a tidal wave of good for us research? Because in the end, the solution to our problem will be such an easy one, that almost every quack could cash in and thats a sad fact.

Oh and we should thank the inventors of FUE, because their idea laid down on significant step towards a solution because FUE did get closer to the main deal here.

Then its not about transplanting a HAIR (which is dead material anyway) you have to transplant the stem cell enriched tissue which "nutricioned" the hair to grow further in regards of ignoring DHT.

You could pluck out a hair completely, then extract the stem cell enriched tissue without the visible hair and you would get another hair a few weeks later.

And thats a reason why strangely a lot of surgeons go with the regenerative route, because also they know that in the long run, everyone will be aware of regenerative stuff (not even Acell in particulare) and they know it will run em out of business really quick.

Just assume the world 5 years ago in those message boards here. A lot of surgeons were saying "Hair multiplication is BS and wont work for the next 50 years or more" and what is in 2011? Those exactly surgeons are experimenting and investigating this stuff and also speak with patients for their ideas.

Its a sign of Damage control so that patients will forget what those docs said a few years ago

[Follicle Death Row]

The good thing is that technological evolution is far faster than genetic evolution and we can control it and make it work for us. Things are going to be massively different in 20 years. Could you imagine bringing an iphone back to 1991!

The thing about regenerative medicine and these bladders and kidneys is that they have been working on the technology at the Wake Forest Institute of Regenerative Medicine since the beginning of the 90s. Needless to say they started on those organs long before hair follicles and it has taken the best part of 20 years to get there.

[RichardDawkins]

Yeah and luckily all those findings can be used for other fields to a certain degree.

iPhone back in 1991? No way i would never imagined to get an Xbo or Playstation with Full HD in 1991

[DepressedByHairLoss]

You're right with regards to the X-box and I-Phone and all of these technological gadgets. Same goes for computers and the internet. However, these innovations have not translated over to the medical world, or at least not outside the confines of a lab testing on mice and rabbits. It's astounding how far we have come in terms of technological gadgets and computerized systems. Sometimes I wish that we would employ these computer programmers and technological inventors to cure diseases. If the medical world could even move 5% as fast as the technological world, then we would have had a cure for hair loss a long time ago. The technological world has invented countless things and had ridiculous exponential growth in leaps and bounds while the medical world (and especially hair loss scientists) have been gaining 'insight', 'clues', and 'alternate interpretations' while testing on mice for the past 20 years. I mean, just think about it: growing hair just pales in comparison in terms of difficulty when compared to the technology behind constructing a computer, building a functioning I-Phone or mp3 player.

[sammo]

My thoughts....

Thank you to 'The Jack' and 'Depressed By Hairloss' for starting up this thread. I have tried to start similar threads like this on ************ but always get shot down by people with the same arguments based on airy fairy ideas that humans are great, and people with money don't seek more profits, and wouldn't dream of selling out at the expense of others.

I love the human race and have high hopes for us but the fact is.... CAPITALISM is a machine which drives society to continue to protect profits and squash competition. 'The Jack' and 'Depressed By Hairloss' have done well in explaining all the arguments so I don't feel like I really need to add anything.

EXCEPT - what can we do? What is a solution? Capitalism sure isn't interested. The only chance we have is if some rogue scientist finds a cure and somehow slips through the cracks of the medical mafia and begin administering society overnight.

Maybe we can start an independent fund for hairloss research and basically approach certain companies doing the research to Apply for our funding based on a voting system?

ONE IMPORTANT POINT WHICH ALWAYS MAKES ME THINK..... Since when do cures for diseases or actual remedys for issues appear overnight therefore crippling a billion dollar industry which was made redundant by the new discovery? Never.... For example... What ever happened to those cars that ran on purely air or water? Oh yeah, overnight the motor industry would be toppled. That would never be allowed would it?

Cheers,

Sam

[gmonasco]

Since when do cures for diseases or actual remedys for issues appear overnight therefore crippling a billion dollar industry which was made redundant by the new discovery? Never....

Really? A lot of people made a lot of money treating polio victims before the polio vaccine was developed and released in the 1950s.

For example... What ever happened to those cars that ran on purely air or water?

Nobody has yet developed an economically viable automobile that "runs on purely air or water."

Oh yeah, overnight the motor industry would be toppled. That would never be allowed would it?

Why would the "motor industry be toppled" just because a viable alternative fuel source was developed? That claim makes no sense -- if cars could be powered by water, people would stop buying them?