MAX BioPharma Seeks Crowdfunding For Preclinical Hair Growth Study

I have just received an email from a representative of MAX BioPharma, a biotechnology company based in Santa Monica CA, which directed me to the company’s crowdfunding campaign for a hair loss experiment. After taking a quick review of the company and the campaign, I’ve decided it’s worthwhile to share here.

About The Company

MAX BioPharma is a biotechnology company developing novel oxysterol molecules to be used in bone, cancer, and other therapeutic areas. The company’s lead oxysterol drug candidate is known as Oxy133. You can read about Oxy133’s bone formation properties in this peer reviewed article, also you can read an overview of MAX Biopharma’s therapeutic focus on the company’s About page.

Oxy133 stimulates the Hedgehog (Hh) cellular pathway which has been “famously” associated with hair regeneration for many years. The only caveat is the Hedgehog pathway also plays a major role in cancer formation, and thus, hair growth research involving the Hedgehog pathway has mainly been avoided previously. MAX BioPharma proposes that Oxy133 can “safely” stimulate the Hh pathway through an “allosteric” mechanism and plan to test a topical formulation in mice to evaluate hair growth efficacy. Background info on the Hedgehog pathway’s involvement in hair growth can be found in this scientific article and this New York Times article from 1999.

While browsing MAX BioPharma’s website, I noticed the company has recently been awarded a $1.7M grant from the California Institute of Regenerative Medicine to develop its drug therapy for osteoporosis, certainly a positive indicator. Previously, MAX Biopharma also received multiple grants from the National Institute of Health (NIH) for its work in developing bone therapeutics.

Crowdfunding Campaign 

That brings us to the current crowdfunding campaign for Oxy133. The basics of the campaign are as follows:

• Funding goal of $5,000 to perform a preclinical study of Oxy133 in mice
• If positive, MAX BioPharma will use the data to present to industry partners or investors to further develop a commercial product 
• The campaign is raising money for the study itself (no product rewards or equity involved)
• Experiment results are scheduled for November 12, 2018 (contingent upon funding)

To view the crowdfunding campaign for Oxy133 on Experiment.com please click the image below:

Due to the vast amount of readers this website receives, I believe I am obliged to put forth the following disclaimer: Follicle Thought.com is neither encouraging you nor discouraging you to/from making a financial contribution to this particular campaign. It is my chosen duty to present relevant hair growth industry news through this website, which I faithfully do. Per usual, please make your own decisions.

As of the day this article was written 8/9/2018, the Oxy133 campaign is a little over 1/4 funded and has 35 days left to raise the full amount of $5,000.