Allergan Invests $25 Million Into New Hair Loss Drugs
The medical aesthetic giant Allergan is doubling down on its mission to cure baldness.
Collaboration With Exicure
Did it seem like research and development was slowing down in the hair growth treatment sector? Allergan doesn’t think so. Today, November 14, 2019, it was announced that Allergan has invested $25 million in the company Exicure to development treatments for hair loss. Exicure is a biotechnology company based in Skokie, Illinois developing numerous therapeutics for inflammatory diseases with its proprietary spherical nucleic acid or SNA technology. Under the agreement with Allergan, Exicure will be leading not one, but two research programs in alopecia. According to today’s press release, Exicure will be eligible to receive development milestone payments up to $97.5 million for each program.
This is most likely the largest investment ever made into a cure for hair loss and signifies great potential for these treatments. Though the specific mechanisms of actions for Exicure’s alopecia programs have not been discussed yet, an SNA-based treatment would be targeting the root causes of hair loss at a genetic level. Could this be the start of a “miracle” treatment for baldness which can effectively prevent hair loss for life or regrow a full head of hair? We will have to see, but compared to a standard small molecules or peptide, the approach from Exicure is far more advanced. The video below gives a brief look at the background of Exicure’s technology.
Allergan’s Hair Growth Research Programs
It’s no secret that Allergan has long been interested in becoming a leader in hair loss therapies. The company took a swing at the DP2 antagonist drug setipiprant last year, however, results from that clinical trial were not breathtaking and the project has since been shelved. Allergan is back with a vengeance in 2019 though, announcing three new collaborative projects to beat baldness. Many will remember the announcement made in June that Allergan had invested $3 million into Stemson Therapeutics, the company founded by Dr. Alexey Terskikh which seeks to create new hair follicles from iPSCs. Let’s also not forget Allergan’s agreement to acquire Pelage pharmaceutical’s multiple compounds which stimulate hair follicle stem cells pending results from their initial clinical trials. It’s safe to say that Allergan is the most heavily invested pharmaceutical company in the hair space. And remember, these are only the projects that we currently know about. According to an investor conference call in 2018, the company has ongoing research with several academic institutions to treat hair loss and reverse gray hair. Carry on, Allergan.
Posted in Allergan, Exicure, Hair Growth Treatment
Great news, but this is likely not coming any time soon. Trials are going to take years, especially the SNA ones. How long do you think it’ll be before this will be available?
Although, the fact that someone is investing this much in hair loss is definitely good news.
Greg, to become available on the market we could be looking at 2026-2029. But we can tell there is no lack of resources available for these companies to develop a product, money is what’s held back numerous technologies in the past and even today. Histogen, HairClone, RiverTown, BiologicsMD, and the list goes on could all be much further along now if they had a financial backer like Allergan. The amount invested here is actually pretty unbelievable.
So what are these treatments – the genetic ones or whatever – that you referred to as the potential “miracle” treatments and how would they compare to cloning?
Greg, it appears Exicure is going to be creating topically based SNA therapies which would alter the genetic makeup of the skin/hair follicles locally. The technology delivers nucleic acids into the scalp which directly affect DNA/RNA makeup. There is no name for the projects yet.
Compared to cloning the SNA technology most likely would not be able to grow as much hair as a cloning technology, but the SNA technology could possibly prevent hair loss from happening in the first place. I imagine these topical SNA therapies to be like a 2-3x finasteride effect.
I see. Thanks for the clarification.
I like the fact that Allergan is setting the trend, this treatment may take some time but it’s a wake up call to other billionaire pharma cos. Get something going now or you will have nothing to compete with Allergan in 5 yrs. Moves like this speed up all areas, even over the counter stuff. Hoping for something worthwhile to come out late next year.
Probably in market in 2030. Pretty useless for already Norwodd 2+ in 2019. The FDA need to be reformed.
I agree that FDA need to be reformed, but you never know where you gonna be in 2027. This may the best thing that happen to your life then. Years pass quick sometimes.
Most important part of the news: “less toxic” and timeline “much much faster”
John, where was the part about much faster? Was that in the video or something…
Newb, yes at the end of the Video 2:50 … much much faster 🙂 … but anyway, the drug still is in preclinical stage as far as I see.
What is the drug in development called? This is great news.
Why Allergan don’t invest money in HairClone (with a faster results) and prefers to invest in something with a doubtful potential to return the investment over +10 years?
I think because the final purpose of Hairclone is remove the problem in a few sessions. Allergan want to sell a “contract” for the client, so something a topical solution,
It’s hard to say why/how companies decide who they will invest in. Sometimes it just comes down to location and a previous relationship between the two parties. For example, Allergan is based in San Diego and they invested in Pelage Pharmaceuticals (Los Angeles) and Stemson Therapeutics (also southern California).
Good news for kids who are 15 years old now, since for many people who realize their hair loss have already lost a large percentage of it. As they said before, the FDA should regulate the timing of the phases etc.
I hate to be pessimistic but I must be, RCH01 is silenced something in which I no longer have the slightest hope. HAIRCLONE, I got in touch with them and I was very interested, but after a few brief messages they stopped answering when I asked him about the effectiveness of the treatment and the final cost of the procedure. I am not surprised that they have not found the capital to carry it out, I see them somewhat informal in this aspect and I have almost discarded it as well.
My only hope is TISSUSE and maybe FOLLICA, but if the latter is only offered in centers, clinics etc, I would not be convinced.
In 2030 Yoda will be turning 68. Will he still care about his hair? You betcha!! 🙂 It never stops boys. Although I’ll say hair loss becomes less traumatic with age. I feel for you young guys, I was loosing hair in my 20’s and it was tough. I researched (still do) and hoped on meds, while my hair is not perfect it’s not bad for a guy my age.
Does anybody know where I can get my hands on a topical finasteride cream? Like 1% or 2%?
Now all became fairy tales for us.. Now only Jesus can help us.
Maybe Jesus is at Allergan these days bud
He sure had a nice head of hair, or it appears so! 🙂
HI Admin.
Is anything known about TissUse at the ISHRS World Congress already concluded?
THANKS!!
Soul, I think the most current news about TissUse is the planned trial with J. Hewitt which is now looking to take place in January. J Hewitt is still committed to the trial and it looks like they will be the first next-gen cell therapy company to get into a clinical trial.
I thought they’d start it in December. Did they announce it from their website?
Thanks again!
No, this is just from my conversation with the CEO. December was the plan but he had been in negotiations with a company who is going to carry out the actual trial, a cell processing center in Japan.
I am looking forward the most to the tissuse trial for this january please keep us posted, this is greatest hope for now.
Admin, did the ceo mention how long would the trial last?
I’m not sure at the moment, JKMS, perhaps 6-8 months?
Are there any other new informations of the conversation with the CEO of J Hewitt?
Not at the moment, but the company’s plans to move things forward remain unchanged..
I will update when he gives me something new to share.
Albeit this hair conference isn’t over yet, thus far, it has been uneventful as I presumed.
Biggest news coming up is the WAY-316606 over the counter product, J Hewitt hair multiplication trials within 2 months, and Follica’s clinical trial results.
Things are in swing.
Nice! Hi admin, I have a question. did you write this because you heard something around?
Hi Pier, I haven’t heard anything new yet, just basing the comment off of the news I received which was reported in this article https://folliclethought.com/way-316606-clinical-trial-update-2019/ and this article https://folliclethought.com/j-hewitt-to-trial-hair-multiplication-in-2019/
From reviewing the current upcoming options, these are the most promising imminent developments. The WAY product would come out as a cosmetic which is a preferable timeline to market release and the J Hewitt trial is located in Japan which also has an expedited regulatory path.
Guys here is a real news: Almirall topical Finasteride (ALM12845) is now in Regestration!
“The product is subject to medical prescription. First national phase approval is estimated in 2020 or early 2021 in Europe. ”
https://www.almirall.com/about-almirall/research-and-development/pipeline
https://www.almirall.com/documents/10876/4146773/Almirall_SE_Pipeline+Update_21102019.pdf/5545100f-8bd4-1401-1840-9b57657b48df?version=1.0&t=1572246472291
Check out the new Follica data in this presentation https://puretechhealth.com/images/PureTech-Corporate-Presentation_FINAL-111919-Web.pdf