Mallia Therapeutics Secures Funding For Hair Growth Drug CD83
The German biotech startup Mallia Therapeutics (formerly MalliaBiotech) has secured seed funding to further its hair loss drug soluble CD83.
CD83 Hair Growth Through Immune Modulation
On July 11, 2023, Mallia Therapeutics issued a press release announcing a successful seed financing round and the presentation of data at a European Hair Research Society (EHRS) meeting. The company, founded by researchers at the University Erlangen in Germany, first entered the news back in 2021 when their team was awarded the prestigious m4 award and grant to continue research on CD83 and hair loss. CD83 is a human protein which plays a role in immune functions. Prof. Alexander Steinkasserer, co-founder of Mallia Therapeutics, is a world leading expert in CD83 and has developed a soluble form of CD83 for therapeutic applications, sCD83.
sCD83 Mechanism of Hair Growth
For the first time, information has been shared publicly on sCD83’s mechanism of action in hair growth. In today’s release, sCD83 was described to induce hair growth and the formation of new hair follicles in two ways: “Firstly, it induces an anti-inflammatory environment at the hair follicle via regulatory T cells (Tregs), which interact with follicular stem cells and thereby activate hair growth. Secondly, sCD83 directly binds to follicular stem cells where it induces the formation of new hair follicles.”
CSO of Mallia Therapeutics, Dr. Dmytro Royzman, presented preclinical data at the EHRS 2023 meeting showing sCD83 accelerated the anagen growing phase and induced new hair growth (likely in a mouse model, which is not significant), however, the company also presented human ex vivo data showing sCD83 was able to prolong the anagen phase in a human hair follicle and upregulate certain hair growth-promoting genes, which is more promising. Human ex vivo data involves culturing and testing human hair follicles which have been surgically extracted from a person’s scalp.
Co-founder of Mallia Therapeutics, Dr. Manfred Groeppel added in the news: “we hope to move into the clinic and start treating patients within the next two years.” This timeline is likely subject to Mallia raising funds in a successful Series A financing round.
Mallia Therapeutics New Website
In addition to the funding news, Mallia Therapeutics has finally rolled out its own website. The site contains all the usual sections; Leadership team, Science, News, etc., however it also has a section for Investors and Partnering. The Partnering page, in particular, shares an interesting detail. It states that Mallia is interested in partnering with cosmeceutical and pharmaceutical companies for the development of its hair loss programs. This appears to be an indication the sCD83 could be developed as a cosmeceutical in addition to a pharmaceutical drug, which we all know means a shorter pathway to market.
Posted in Mallia Therapeutics
Big thanks to reader JD for the tip!!
And the news of new drug developments continues to roll in. Like others have shared, it’s not easy to keep track of all the companies now. The sheer volume of formed biotech companies for hair loss/growth therapies has to be a positive indicator.
😀👍
Also, don’t forget Thursday July 13th at 1pm EST StimuSil will be broadcasting a live webinar introducing its hair growth device (in clinic treatment, not a product for sale) to investors, physicians, and patients. You may register for the webinar through the following, this is not financial advice. https://rvt7haqqqy5.typeform.com/to/zcZY4UD6
First time i have heard someone is trying to do something for baldness in Germany.
Good luck to Company.
It sounds promising.
It looks like something copied from SCUBE3
but who cares, just we need a real remedy at least.
Man, I´m waiting for news about Malliabiotech since 2021. Very happy to hear some news about them. The treatment they are working on sounds very promising. Thank you for sharing and please keep us updated about their progress.
Thanks Oguz, I have been in touch with their company previously, so will try to bring forth some exclusive news at some point in the future, no timeline set.
Is Dr. Groeppel indicating that they hope to begin clinical trials within 2 years? Or that they hope to have the product available to the public within 2 years?
Drew, like you, I wish Dr. Groeppel was indicating that the product would be available in the clinic within 2 years. He means that the product will be in the clinic through trial within 2 years. But, we still have a potential cosmeceutical pathway ahead, perhaps with a lower % soluble CD83.
Honestly, I’m a bit tired of all these companies that come up and recruit all these smart folks just to make slightly better minoxidil.
Wish there were more places like stemson ready to go straight to the end.
Stemson’s goal is a lofty one which takes a lot of $$ to attempt. I would not mind more hair cloning companies either, but I know why there’s more attempts at drug development.
Thank you for sharing. Out of all these companies that have been popping up for the last 5 years – which do you think is the most promising?
Kintor’s GT20029 looks promising to me. There has been some chatter on Hope Medicine’s HMI-115, but it’s still in the realm of speculation. These are the two drugs I’m expecting the most from at this time. I also find Epi Biotech’s research interesting.
Admin , open and frankly what do you think about Amplifica products?
IL4, I think certain products in their catalog are legitimately interesting, such as SCUBE3 and osteopontin, but some products less interesting, such as AMP-203 which just went into trial. It could always turn out better than I anticipate though.
Is Osteopontin not AMP-203?
In your post ‘AMPLIFICA BEGINS TRIAL FOR AMP-303’, you identified AMP-203 as Osteopontin.
Did you end up clarifying this with Amplifica?
I didn’t receive any clarification from Amplifica yet. The article has a link to Amplifica’s news release which says “The compound highlighted in the Nature publication is referenced as AMP-203 at Amplifica.” And the compound which was highlighted in Nature was osteopontin.
Hello, what are your thoughts on Kintor’s active ingredient called KX-826?
Oguz, I believe it will become approved in multiple territories and will be a useful tool against AGA, but I’m not expecting anything out of the realm of finasteride. Perhaps it may have lower side effect occurence than finasteride.
What about Eirion therapeutics? They have gone quiet, last I heard they were aiming to start phase 1 trial 1st half 2023. Was expecting to hear an update from them but I guess they are delayed or maybe working under the radar?
Andy, they’re definitely working under the radar. Potentially fulfilling the FDA’s requirements to begin a phase 1 human trial.
If they can somehow manage to reverse grey hair that would be insane
Hi Admin,
It looks like TripleHair TH07 is now available at some medical facilities. (suspiciously quick as last time I checked it was still in Phase 2 trials).
Do you have any information about the effectiveness of this treatment?
Hi Alex, Triple hair’s formula involves minoxidil, finasteride, and latanoprost. Two of those ingredients are well known and FDA approved to grow hair, and latanoprost has a pool of anecdotal data on its hair growth effect. I shared an article previously which shared limited data about the pilot trial TH-07 ran. It’s expected to grow hair, just be aware it may have the side effects which can be associated with those drugs. https://folliclethought.com/new-company-triple-hair-topical/