A company working in protein degradation has entered the field of hair loss therapeutics in Spring 2023 with a new anti-hair loss drug.

AH-001 AnHorn Medicines

As I’ve stated before, we are in a new era for hair loss medication. Whereas in years past we would see a new therapy or company emerge once per year, we now see new entries almost once a month. The interest among the biotech and pharmaceutical industry has grown, and that trend will continue until greater solutions are met. AH-001 is a small molecule protein degrader drug which is being applied to the androgen receptor, a popular target in the hair loss field these days. Companies like Kintor, Cosmo Pharma, and CosmeRNA also target the androgen receptor in various ways.

AnHorn Medicines has developed a proprietary platform of PROTAC (proteolysis-targeting chimera) molecules called “BIGPRO” which stands for bi-functional ligand induced proteolysis. These technical terms describe medicines that essentially eliminate certain targeted proteins from the human body. AH-001 accounts for the second PROTAC, or protein degrader drug, which is actively being developed for androgenetic alopecia. Kintor Pharmaceuitcal’s GT20029, which is now in a phase 2 trial in China, was the first. 

anhornmed.com

Clinical Trial Development Plans

On May 15, 2023, AnHorn Medicines announced its presentation of AH-001 at the First International Societies for Investigative Dermatology Meeting (ISID 2023) in Tokyo. An abstract of the presentation is available online. AnHorn describes AH-001 as a “topical administered protein degrader that efficiently degrades endogenous androgen receptor protein by recruiting E3 ubiquitin ligase.” The company also claims successful preclinical work demonstrating the reversal of hair loss with reduced systemic exposure. Without a date range specified, AnHorn Medicine stated in its release, intentions to file INDs for clinical trials in the US and Taiwan, following a recently closed Series A financing round. 

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