Histogen Plans New HSC Trial For Males

Today, Histogen CEO Richard Pascoe presented at the BIO Investor Forum in San Francisco, CA.

During his BIO presentation, Richard Pascoe discussed Histogen’s current therapeutic programs including dermal fillers, cartilage repair, and of course, hair growth. Pascoe shared that the company is planning to conduct a dose-ranging study for their lead product, HSC, in the first quarter of 2020. By nature, the study will seek to determine the optimal number of injections needed to create the greatest efficacy of hair growth. Only males subjects will be involved in this trial as Histogen does not wish to mix data between genders. An HSC trial for females was completed earlier this year. Men with a baldness pattern up to a Norwood 4A are eligible to participate in the upcoming trial which is a pretty significant degree of hair loss. The slide below displays the full trial protocol. 

Pascoe stated that data will be expected from this trial in Q3 2020 and, if positive, would potentially lead Histogen to a clinical partner for the product. This seems important because if the HSC product got into the hands of a larger company, Allergan for example, it would likely get through the clinical trial process much faster than it has with Histogen alone. Many readers, including myself, may be surprised that this trial is labeled as a phase 1b which is early in the process. It seems that refining the composition of the HSC product has bound Histogen to showing safety once again in a phase 1b trial before moving into a late stage trial.

I would say the biggest positive from this presentation is Histogen’s plans to partner out HSC which could effectively end the long road of development that the product has been on.

35 Comments

  1. mp5of9 on October 22, 2019 at 9:27 pm

    Very guardedly optimistic. Histogen to me is like the pre-2004 Boston Red Sox. You want to route for them, but you know in the end, they will let you down.



    • Follicle Thought on October 22, 2019 at 9:55 pm

      Ha, I know where you’re coming from but the 2004 Red Sox did win that World Series to break the curse didn’t they? 🙂



      • mp5of9 on October 22, 2019 at 10:16 pm

        Haha, you are correct, sir! Hence, I remain ever so guardedly optimistic. ?



  2. Dan on October 22, 2019 at 9:42 pm

    If Allergan would take up HSC we might finally get to inject it on our scalps..



    • SB on October 23, 2019 at 12:01 am

      Would be ironic as wasnt it allergan who sued histogen for that time before which delayed the progress for a couple years?



      • Follicle Thought on October 24, 2019 at 11:58 am

        Yes, it’s true Allergan was suing Histogen, then they decided to partner with them for their skincare line, I believe it’s the Regenica line. With a business deal already in place it makes perfect sense for Allergan to take on the HSC product. They could manufacture it very efficiently as well.



  3. Devon on October 23, 2019 at 11:26 am

    If hsc got to another large company besides Histogen I’d be excited for it again, it needs money and a company behind it who have experience pushing drugs through clinical trials.



  4. Tristan on October 23, 2019 at 1:11 pm

    What about another trial for females are they going to do the next phase?



    • Follicle Thought on October 23, 2019 at 2:06 pm

      There was no mention of a further trial for females in the presentation, but it also did seem like the company was kind of tight on money. This would mean they would not be able to run two trials for hair at the same time. It would be nice if they presented the results from their latest HSC female trial though.



  5. KD on October 23, 2019 at 3:04 pm

    God please let HSC make it to partner, Allergan would be perfect match they already sell the Histogen cosmetic skincare.



  6. Karl on October 23, 2019 at 3:34 pm

    @Admin do You have a contact at Tokyo Medical university or Toho university to ask when Shiseido results will be published?



    • Follicle Thought on October 23, 2019 at 7:58 pm

      Karl, they won’t answer at this point because it is such an important topic for a billion dollar company. Shiseido is biding their time but it seems that the results will be published by the end of the year. I will keep a lookout for conferences that Shiseido could be attending.



      • Karl on October 24, 2019 at 1:12 am

        @ADMIN thank you! I am very interested in conferences that Shiseido could be attending! Do you think that SHiseido found a solution to detect DHT resistant hairs/DSCC for multiplying? Just read that HairClone found a solution for this which is awesome for people with thinning donor 🙂



        • Follicle Thought on October 25, 2019 at 3:41 pm

          Karl, I’m not sure if Shiseido can detect DHT resistant cup cells as they have not commented on this and their technology is dated back to around 2008. Perhaps now, since analytical technology has increased over recent years they are able to analyze the genomic profile of the DSCC before injecting them.

          I’m glad that the HairClone prospect bodes well for you. If the treatment works as planned it should be possible for people with thinning donor to use on their top scalp and then also theoretically strengthen and thicken the donor area as well. I believe there would need to be a sample taken from some area that contains DHT resistant cells though.



      • Abdulaziz on October 24, 2019 at 4:21 am

        Hi admin,

        When do u think HSC will be available if everything goes well?



        • Follicle Thought on October 24, 2019 at 3:54 pm

          Abdulaziz, it could be around late 2023-24 for a US market release of HSC is things go well.



          • Karl on October 25, 2019 at 12:37 am

            @ADMIN i won’t get an answer of you?



          • Gsgus on October 26, 2019 at 10:33 am

            The company Histogen said it would offer treatment in 2018. I read these news in 2014. Imagine how difficult it was to wait for 2018 in 2014. now called 2024. I think never trust. If you don’t respect what I’m saying, look at the past treatment news on the internet. if there are those who claim otherwise.



            • Follicle Thought on October 26, 2019 at 1:47 pm

              Yes, it has been a tough journey for Histogen with being sued multiple times by larger companies who wanted the patent for themselves.

              If anything I give Histogen credit for continuing to pursue the path in the face of adversity, certainly they probably could have made better decisions along the way as well. But, I’m not going to blame them because I don’t know what it’s like to try and bring a medical product to market in those circumstances. There’s also no reason to put all your faith in them now, but the fact they are continuing to push ahead is probably better than giving up.



  7. Ernest on October 23, 2019 at 6:34 pm

    does this work well for norwood 4a’s?



  8. Yoda on October 23, 2019 at 7:54 pm

    I won’t poop on any potentially viable treatment and refuse to Histogen-bash due to the delays. However, even if they find a big corporate partner this is years away. To me this is a good back up if everything else in the nearer term fails or it proves to be superior to anything else that’s released in the meantime.



    • Hairpls on October 23, 2019 at 9:22 pm

      I agree Yoda, it don’t make sense to bash cuz If it was announced that hsc was miraculously available in mexico tomorrow everyone would be praising. There’s guys of all ages here and to think for some if/when hsc comes out it will at the right moment for them. They don’t know how lucky they are. Delays have been trying tho. HSC and some SM04454 would be nice.



  9. Dante on October 24, 2019 at 1:01 am

    I’d rather hear that they are going for it than not, maybe hsc will be perfect bonus in a few years with other new treatments.



  10. Jonathan Weaver on October 24, 2019 at 5:21 pm

    Well, time to start Finasteride. I don’t see anything close to market and I am being Norwood 2.



    • Yoda on October 24, 2019 at 5:50 pm

      JW, that’s a very sensible move. Don’t hold off waiting for things that may take longer to materialize than planned. Hope you’re on Minoxidil as well to assist with stimulating growth.



  11. supal on October 24, 2019 at 6:21 pm

    hsc was always the ideal model for a hair growth treatment. get injections with no need for blood draws of hair removal. only improvement would be if it was stronger efficacy, but is good enough for this day and age. if they could get this in a few years would be a miracle for now and future generations.



  12. C on October 24, 2019 at 8:52 pm

    I don’t know about other folks, but I ain’t holding my breath on Histogen. If I were to surmise, provided Histogen is successful in its upcoming trials, HIstogen’s hairgrowth stimulant won’t be available until 2030. Quite frankly, I don’t want to wait until then!



    • Follicle Thought on October 25, 2019 at 10:25 am

      What makes you say 2030? If trials are successful (which has never been a problem with Histogen) then it would be out around 2024 especially with the help of a larger pharma co who would not waste any time completing a clinical trial schedule.



      • Yoda on October 25, 2019 at 5:46 pm

        Yea, 2024 is the new 2030! 🙂



    • Mike P on October 25, 2019 at 4:33 pm

      Of course no one wants to wait for Histogen but once we get to the yr it comes out we’d all be happy to add the injections to our regimens. Hopefully some good things come out soon to tide us over…shiseido news should be soon, hoping



  13. pjotr on October 25, 2019 at 6:28 pm

    And winner is, and the winner takes it alle, question is who is the winner, and who are the losers.



    • Follicle Thought on October 25, 2019 at 9:50 pm

      Winner will be everyone, if the treatment comes out. Likewise, most of us would be losing out if it did not ever reach the market. Histogen, too.



  14. Hairguy on October 26, 2019 at 9:08 pm

    Hsc will take the usual 8 to 10 years to hit the market. Needs to go through fda trials. Good news is that if it works and is backed by allergan then it has a strong chance to make it to market. Histogrn was my favorite upcoming treatment due to its simple injection and done procedure. However I have lost hope in them and they are probably just retrialing the product to gain investors. Gail had mentioned that hair loss drugs bring in great revenue that they can use for other pipeline drugs. I guess we shall see….



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