Interview with Stemson Therapeutics CEO Geoff Hamilton
Follicle Thought is very pleased to share this exclusive interview with the CEO of Stemson Therapeutics, Geoff Hamilton.
CEO Geoff Hamilton
Follicle Thought: Hi Geoff, thank you for doing this interview with Follicle Thought. To start, could you please tell us about how you met Dr. Alexey Terskikh and went on to become Stemson’s CEO?
Geoff Hamilton: Well, thank you for the opportunity to talk to you and the audience of Follicle Thought. Sometimes you can’t predict the directions in which life will take you and the story of how I met Alexey and went on to found Stemson was certainly outside of my scope of vision.
I had been working in the biotech industry in San Diego for almost two decades and had been aspiring for many years to start a biotech company. I used to talk to a network of friends and colleagues about my idea of starting a company. A friend in this network happened to be working with the Sanford Burnham Prebys Institute and was working on Alexey’s discovery and patent for how to make dermal papilla cells from induced pluripotent stem cells (iPSCs). This friend called me one day and told me, “I’ve been working with this great scientist at the SBP Institute, and we think we’re onto something that could have tremendous commercial value, but doesn’t fit in the typical range of therapies that the Institute is familiar with. We’re looking for an entrepreneur who would come and put a company together and I recommended you to to Alexey.” So, with curiosity, I figured it would not hurt to have the conversation and agreed to meet with Alexey’s team in 2017. At that time I was happily employed with a great company called Illumina. After about 4-5 months of really investigating the potential of this technology, hair follicle biology, and the current treatment options for hair restoration, I was confident in the opportunity we had and in 2018 we incorporated Stemson Therapeutics, the rest is history until now.
Follicle Thought: How did the thought of working on hair regeneration strike you initially? You’re not personally familiar with the issue, right?
Geoff Hamilton: That is right, I’m not personally experiencing hair concerns. However, I have family members both male and female that have challenges around hair. I was not originally focused on this type of application, it was really during my research with Alexey that it became apparent to me that hair loss can sometimes be incredibly mentally debilitating. It will affect some more than others. But, when we look at people across all genders, ages, and races, how many of them were dramatically impacted by this (hair loss)? Some experience depression, career challenges, self esteem challenges when trying to attract a mate. It became clear to me that in some cases, if you can restore a people’s hair, you can, in many ways, restore their lives. They can be their best selves. I thought, gosh, how cool is that? And just by chance, in my industry where we now have these advanced new technologies no one else is looking at this for hair regeneration. So, I got really excited about that.
We’re fortunate to be what I consider a mission-driven business. Our employees, board members, and investors really understand and buy into the mission. And we know it’s going to be a tough solution to crack, but we think we have it within grasp.
Follicle Thought: What’s a typical day like for you as the CEO of Stemson Therapeutics?
Geoff Hamilton: I’d say the heaviest focus of my day is internal, working with our R&D team, our amazing engineers, and some of the partners that we have in the business that we hire to work on this solution. On a weekly-monthly basis we have cycles of experiments to test, tweak, and improve the solution. We spend a lot of time focused on the science because, technically, nothing else matters outside of that.
I’m in the lab everyday. I’m working with the team, I’m planning, reviewing results, talking about decisions with our Vice President of R&D everyday. In fact, she and I share an office together. There are lots of activities going on in the lab that need constant attention. We’re trying to drive as fast of a cycle of experiments and learning as we can and it does require constant attention. I do spend a big chunk of my time in various set meetings on a daily basis. In my interactions with our scientists, I try to do more listening than talking because, frankly, our scientists know more about what to do with the science and interpret our experimental results than I do. I then can step in offering ideas and direction on priorities.
Follicle Thought: And what’s your favorite part of your job so far?
Geoff Hamilton: I’d say my favorite part is working with the most talented scientists, bioengineers, and bioinformaticians that you’ll find anywhere. I really thrive off of a team environment and I’ve always been that way dating back to team sports as a kid. We’re very luck to have highly talented, self-motivated PhDs and other folks in the company, and that would definitely be my favorite part.
In the Stemson Therapeutics Lab – San Diego, CA
Follicle Thought: Over the past decade there have been various groups around the world who have been working on hair “cloning”, for example in Germany and Japan. Some of these groups even seemed to receive more attention on the internet than Dr. Terskikh, who was of course known. Why do you think Stemson Therapeutics emerged as the first company to attract these major investments?
Geoff Hamilton: There’s two main reasons. One, is the foundational technology that we’re using. Those folks who really understand the biology, folks who are experts in developing therapies, and those who really understand cell therapy, they look at the technology that we’re using and they say “that’s the future, that’s going to work…using iPSCs is the right idea.” Two, is the team that we’ve pulled together. I think this is the area that I’m most proud of. Alexey, I would say, is really solely responsible for pulling the technology together and I think I’ve had a good impact on how to pull the right team together that people and investors can believe is the right team to successfully develop this technology. That team comes with decades of experience, not only myself, but some of our board members and other leaders in the company.
We have a track record in the biotech industry at leadership positions in creating amazing, novel, and successful products that have gone on to make a big impact in the world. And that makes a big difference, that’s different than an academic such as Dr. Tsuji, who is amazing and has uncovered some great science. I have a huge amount of respect for him, but in contrast he doesn’t have a track record of translating that into products. That process of going from a scientific discovery to then an actual product, is dramatically different than anything done in the academic space. And so you need, kind of, a different group of folks with those experiences, knowing how to organize a business and to convince a group of stakeholders to come along the path with you; it’s that team of people that you need. Also, our technology really is truly different and novel, compared to what Dr. Tsuji and others were developing.
Follicle Thought: What types of studies and experiments are going on at Stemson today?
Geoff Hamilton: The most important element of this entire solution is the “engine” by which we can generate brand new hair follicles and that is the population of cells that we create. So, we have a number of experiments going on which could be called “cycles of development” where we are getting better and better at making the right kind of hair-producing cells consistently. We know what those cells are supposed to look like and we can create them in large quantities such that they are capable of initiating a hair follicle “engine”, if you will. That is the core engine behind the solution and this is not a simple task. Cells are alive and have unique behavior characteristics, we direct them down a pathway and some behave and some don’t. Gaining consistency in this process is critical and when we put these cells together to form a hair follicle they have to initiate activity and cross-talk together. Working through the layers of complexity in this process is our biggest focus.
The second biggest focus is our experiments that test how we actually transplant these cells into a human skin-like environment such that they form the end product that we all desire which is a fully functional, durable, hair follicle. Once we get to the point where we see the cells are behaving properly in the dish, and exhibiting the right signatures, we have to put that in a living body and make sure it can grow a hair. We refer to that as a tissue engineering challenge. I will be a little more close to the vest in terms of how we do that.
Follicle Thought: And you have been working in pig studies?
Geoff Hamilton: We have. The pig model is the closest approximation to human skin and there are various reasons why we need to approximate human skin as close as we can. But, we want to be sure that before we test in humans, that we have recreated, as closely as possible, what we will encounter in human skin and that we’ve designed the parameters of the therapy to be successful in that kind of environment.
Follicle Thought: That makes sense. Do you plan to release preclinical pig data at any point along your development?
Geoff Hamilton: You know, I don’t know yet, I wouldn’t commit to anything. To the extent that there is some useful information that we can put in a peer-reviewed publication that helps lend credibility, but doesn’t reveal too much about the “secret sauce” and we’re comfortable doing that, we absolutely would do that. In fact, we very much want to share some information that will give the audience, folks like this audience, and those who are regulators or future investors much more confidence that the science behind this is real. And so, I would expect that we will release information over time, I can’t say what the specific data will be, but we do plan to do it when it is ready and available.
Follicle Thought: Is Stemson considering any outside the US locations like the UK or Japan for any regulatory advantages in terms of expediency?
Geoff Hamilton: The answer is yes, we are considering other countries besides the United States. And right now, we’re just focused on getting to that first trial. I’m not necessarily trying to finalize decisions on where we will eventually launch the product once it’s cleared humans trials, but what we do need to chart out right now is the most expedient path to get into and through our first human trial. And if it means going to another reputable country, we would, however, we are not interested in going into, say, a third world country without regulations to get through the process faster. So countries like the UK, Japan, Australia, Canada, Korea, etc., they have great regulatory agencies and have some background and knowledge of the latest technologies in cell therapy, those are locations we are assessing. Some of these countries offer incentives, they will actually pay for some of the cost of the first human trial, so we’d be silly to ignore that and not take it into account.
To get little on the technical side, it’s important to know that the fact that we are genetically reprogramming our cells to become hair-producing cells puts a different regulatory approach in front of us than it does to groups like HairClone or Dr. Tsuji. In the Dr. Tsuji approach which extracts hair follicles from a patient, separates out the specific cells, proliferates those cells in a dish and then combines them and puts them back together in a patient, they’re not actually reprogramming those cells. So, there’s a little more tolerance from the regulators to start trying some of that stuff. But in genetically reprogrammed cells, which we think is the only viable pathway forward for a solution that can scale, the regulators treat that a little different.
Follicle Thought: Does Stemson have any product candidates beyond the iPSC derived hair follicle?
Geoff Hamilton: At this moment in time, we are focused purely on creating what we call “de novo” or brand new hair follicles as our primary goal. But, as we progress down the line we expect that there will be other opportunities in other types of programs that we could explore related to hair and skin. Exactly what those will be, we’re assessing and we’ll see how the technology advances, but we expect other opportunities. In some cases it could be a complimentary drug which supports the development of our hair follicles and could actually have better efficacy than what’s on the market.
We make a lot of these cells so we have a unique platform to test drug candidates on these cells which no one else has. So, it’s something on our minds. There are all sorts of ways that we can manipulate these cells through drug molecules to either upregulate activity or downregulate, if you wanted to get rid of armpit hair, or back hair, for example. So, there is a list of opportunities in front of us, but we’re not actually working on those yet, we’re solely focused on the breakthrough of making new hair follicles.
Follicle Thought: Here’s a question that has crossed the mind of patients who are waiting for these types of technologies, if you’re going to be making hair follicles from reprogrammed cells how would they be DHT resistant?
Geoff Hamilton: That is a good question. It is on our mind, and the idea is to generate long lasting, durable hair follicles, and some of the biology behind DHT resistance is not yet known. And so, as we are performing our experiments and biological discoveries, we’re actually collecting donated hair follicles from patients getting hair transplant procedures and those follicles which are extracted from the back of the head are known to be DHT resistant when they are moved to the recipient location of the head, and they have shown to be long lasting and durable. So, we are using those donated hair follicles for several reasons: 1) it helps us establish a benchmark when establishing our hair cells. We ask, ‘what do they look like compared to normal adult hair follicle cells?’ and 2) it gives us a source of material that helps us look deeper into ‘what is DHT resistance?’ and ‘how does that compare to hairs that are not DHT resistant?’ And the strategy for exactly how we’re going to do that is not crystal clear just yet, it is in the plan; we are frankly just a bit more focused at the moment on consistently, reproducibly building a hair follicle. At the second phase we will focus on DHT resistance and the aesthetic value of the hair – subjects like thickness of hair, color and curl. That is the kind of stuff that I would call the second phase of development.
Follicle Thought: At this time are you able to give a projection for a time period for starting a first human clinical trial?
Geoff Hamilton: That’s the question that everybody wants to know, but I’m not able to give an answer at this time. All I could tell you is, it’s the major focus here at the company to determine what the path is to get an application in with the right country and regulator. Once we get closer and we get feedback from those regulators for what is required, it would be easier to answer that type of question.
Follicle Thought: Alright, well we look forward to updates on Stemson’s progress and we certainly wish you all the best in your developments. Thank you very much Geoff for taking the time to answer these questions for our audience.
Stemson Seeks To Scale
Stemson Therapeutics was also recently featured in Genetic Engineering & Biotechnology News to discuss the topic of how robotic automation could help the company scale their therapy to a greater production capacity one day. Commentary was provided by Stemson’s Chief Technology Officer, Cenk Sumen PhD, who recently gave a talk “iPSC Processes: Road to Automation and Closed System” at BioProcess International in Boston on September 21, 2021.
Thanks again to Geoff Hamilton and Amy Caterina at https://stemsontx.com/ for the interview.
Be sure to sign up for email updates on the right sidebar on desktop version or bottom bar on mobile version.
you’re great, admin. Much thank you for bringing us all this information.
Muchas gracias administrador!!
You’re welcome Soul, thanks very much.
Great Article admin, what’s make it more interesting is the fact that somebody is looking at the root cause , “what is DHT resistance” “how a DHT resistant follicle different from a balding follicle”.
First, I think this is a fascinating approach. Second, I think it will eventually fail.
If the approach works, they will generate new follicles successfully. The new follicles would be implanted without rejection, because, like microfollicular hair transplants, they originate from cells harvested from the patient. I suspect this will be a very expensive process (low-medium five figures).
Unfortunately, they will not overcome “DHT resistance” on a permanent basis. That’s because sensitivity to DHT, with consequent signaling to miniaturize the follicle, is a property of the androgen receptors in the dermal papilla cells. AGA sufferers are burdened with too many due to their genetics. The Stemson Therapeutics folks are very talented and are likely to generate dermal papilla cell linings of their follicles with a lower concentration of androgen receptors. The problem is that these, cells, like all others, will die. They will be replaced by cells having the original concentration of androgen receptors, and the pattern baldness will recur. The net result will be a need to repeat this process a number of times over the patient’s lifetime.
I don’t think Stemson will have that much trouble getting over the genetic modification “hurdle” with the FDA or other regulatory body. The bigger problem will be that body’s requirement for Stemson to advertise clearly that this is a temporary solution.
It’s interesting to think of the potential ways in which the therapy will play out. If that hypothetical situation were the case I think the world would be elated that there is an endless supply of growing hair follicles available to each patient which can be replenished if need be. Baldness would be effectively cured.
I disagree. While your hair will thin out as you reach old age, that’s to be expected. If you can’t accept being old at 50+, that’s a delusion.
If the follicle that are replicated originate from the donor area (which they should,) it’ll mostly be DHT resistant because these hairs already are resistant. Cloning is just that. Cloning, identical copies. If you copy a cell that has DHT resistance, the new cloned cell cannot be DHT sensitive.
But this technology has to start somewhere and at a certain pricetag, but lots and lots of people are willing to pay that price for a head of hair. With more competition will come lower prices. This is a good start.
Great interview!
There isn’t a day that goes by in the clinic that a patient doesn’t ask about the exciting possibility of this technology coming to fruition. I feel truly blessed to be amongst a few in the world who have been with Geoff, Alexey, and their team in the lab and see their iPSC research happening in real-time. Truly awesome!
Regards,
Alan J Bauman MD, ABHRS, IAHRS
Thank you
Dr B is an awesome guy! Thanks for always staying current! Keeping hope alive!
Have you heard about PRS? It seems to be a combination of Prp and Svf. I wonder what you think about it?
I had not heard of it. But my initial thoughts are that it’s probably more consistent/slightly more powerful than PRP, but still involves liposuction. So, a person would really have to consider that aspect and the cost of such a treatment. One would have to weigh whether the expected results (slightly better than PRP) are worth it to them.
Stemson: Get it done in the UK asap and we can all buy your product!
Thanks so much Follicle Thought and Stemson for this interview. I hope this willingness to engage with the public continues over the entire course of their development.
It is a cure for future generations.
i’m not sure if the European Union or the USA is drafting a law banning animal testing.
Where did you get this random thought from lol?
@ ah. I doubt it, that will not happen for a long, long time. Could be decades after Stemson is in the clinic. That issue has nothing to do with the development of Stemson.
Great interview FT, you asked all the right questions? Thanks to both you and Geoff
Thank you Big Kahuna, I appreciate it you mentioning that.
You are a legend Follicle Thoughts.
Great work admin, awesome
Thanks for all of the positive feedback guys.
Thx for the intreview.
Altho each tell they tell us i understand how much they are far away.
They seems really far away .
Hoping the university approuch would work
There are several problems with this therapy
I don’t mean the effectiveness of the drug
The first is funding because they need money for research
As we all know who thinks to give money in research wants the money invested very quickly and not in 10 years.
It’s the economy.
Another problem when they publish therapy for alopecia
because it is a very demanding process
It will be many years before clinics are trained for this type of treatment
How long until is works and how much will it cost is all that matters.
My god this would be awesome! It would totally change our lives!
Great interview Admin!
If I may suggest a follow on question that is very relevant:
Nobody has asked them yet about how close to a natural human hair is the best hair they can currently create right now.
In the last paper they published (years ago), they were using human iPSC to get the DP cells, but the epithelial cells were still taken from mice. And the hair didn’t look natural in the picture they provided (compared to a human hair). It was a breakthrough as a proof of concept, but we would expect that they are way ahead of that milestone nowadays.
My question is: if, as of now, they are able to produce a de novo hair with 100% human IPSC, and how close it looks to a real human hair (even if they can’t get their best result consistently yet).
I know they are probably won’t do it but if they could share with us a picture of what a de novo hair created with their tech currently looks like it would be amazing!
Thanks!
I know they won’t share a photo like that now, but there will be more to come in the future! Thanks for reading.
Yes they won’t probably share a photo like that. But do you think Hamilton would at least answer the question I mentioned?
I’m not sure, but unlikely. By the time he’s ready to share more I think he’ll have a good answer.
Admin I’m getting the feeling that you know more about Stemson’s current state of progress than what was shared in this interview…
Did Geoff tell you some stuff off the record that also happen to be very exciting?
No need to tell us what that is, just nod with your head if we should expect more good news from Stemson in the near future 🙂
LoL. Wereluckd, I don’t know anymore than the interview but I appreciate your enthusiasm. All I know is they are working hard and breakthroughs are not scheduled, they just happen. I hope things go well for them.
I knew it was a stemson post lol. Great interview FT! I like how they are looking at other countries to possibly start trial and not just the U.S. or U.K. I think they should do it in Japan or whatever country has the fastest safest route. The DHT resistant topic concerns me though, I hope it all works out ?
Well that was a interesting read. Thank you FT for this NYT worthy interview article, truly appreciate the time and effort you put in to providing us the latest Hair research development updates.
Thanks for the interview admin.
On one hand I am enthusiast for having very qualified people working on such an ambitious project with money and investments to back them up. On the other hand this all sounds like something in the realm of possibilites, but still far away from being reality – how can one expect hair cloning to be available if they still have no idea when they will conduct trials nor if they can produce dht resistant hair?
If I have to be realistic my generation (25 – 35 yo ) will probably have to still go for hair transplant and hopefully rely on kintor or cassiopea to maintain as better and safer alternatives of finasteride. Unless we get some major breakthrough like crisps or mrna that can “bypass” the hair cloning thing and cure us
Good luck.
Great interview, Thanks alot admin!
Great interview, especially because it shows that they understand how important this is to so many people and their commitment to better solutions.
iPSC cell, RCH-01 is also going with same concept and they are in phase 2/3 trail. Isn’t it?
No, RCH-01 is a dermal sheath cell, very different from iPSCs.
Stemson just feels so far off if possible. What is closer than this FT???
Kintor and Cassiopea are the ones closest right now. Each have stage 3 tests left.
Kintor is probably the closest as they’ve had no set backs and are starting stage 3 in Q4.
Cassiopea we haven’t heard if they started. However they do have the weaker winlevi coming out and therefore are likely to have production set up which could speed things up should Breezula get approval.
The Ultimate Guide is always relevant D1. It’s not always perfectly up to date but I have actually updated the listing this week.
Hi @Admin, I would like to ask you what’s going on with Tsuji and Riken. Stemson is on the right path but, c’mmon, Tsuji only needs to do phase 3 and if it works that’s it. We got the cure. I know the crowdfunding data will be published this October but it seems unreal that being so close to achieving the cure nothing has happened yet nor has any company shown an interest in Tsuji’s research.
Until I hear some news from them, I would assume that there is not too much going on at Riken while they are waiting for funding. When they have news, they will share.
@FT i looked at your guide but biosplice in hair loss isnt a thing anymore
It’s last on the list and its status explains it all. Thanks ?
Excellent interview admin. Seems like they are working hard to solve hair cloning. This is very very far away though as I predicted. At least 5 to 10 years before they start real human trials with a working protocol. Progress is always good though so our next generation may see a legit cure. Let’s see how kintor does and hopefully they got a strong regrowth maintenance solution for us we can use in the next few years.
Thanks for the compliment Mjones. My subjective guess on when they begin a trial – 2024.
Thanks admin for the interview. It seems Stemson is quite far away. I’d guess between 10 to 15 years away.
The update about Cassiopia’s bad results for Female Hair Loss does not sound good and hopefully it isn’t the case for the males AGA.
I think we all here are eagerly awaiting to hear the results of Kintors Pyrilutamide Phase 2 results which will soon be released.
@Admin have you gotten any feedback from the company ARVINAS on their PROTAC Androgen Receptor Degrader ARV-110 as yet?
Thanks Sonic. Arvinas has no public interest in using AR receptors for hair at this time.
Thanks for checking admin. It’s unfortunate for them. However, I know a group of about 50 people who are soon to try the compound ARV-110 at a much much much lower dose (for safety) from another forum. I will let you know how it goes in a few months. Shipping of the compound will only happen on 8th October, so the 50 people in the group buy will receive their shipment only a week or two afterwards.
Also, I know I mentioned this before but I’m suprised I haven’t heard of more companies using the Gene Editing Therapy approach to treat MPB.
I’m not sure if I mentioned this though:
The field of Gene Editing went from only having Cas-9, to having a new discovery called “CRISPRoff” and “CRISPRon” .
“In a paper published April 9, 2021, in the journal Cell, researchers at UC San Francisco and the Whitehead Institute describe a novel CRISPR-based tool called “CRISPRoff,” which allows scientists to switch off almost any gene in human cells without making a single edit to the genetic code. The researchers also show that once a gene is switched off, it remains inert in the cell’s descendants for hundreds of generations, unless it is switched back on with a complementary tool called CRISPRon, also described in the paper.
Because the epigenome plays a central role in many diseases, from viral infection to cancer, CRISPRoff technology may one day lead to powerful epigenetic therapies. And since this approach doesn’t involve any DNA edits, it’s likely to be safer than conventional CRISPR therapeutics, which have been known to cause unwanted and potentially harmful changes to the genome. ”
There’s even Cas-12f or Cas14 and Cas-13
Theres also a lot more advancements.
*Just looking at CRISPRoff and CRISPRon, companies could use this technology to target the Androgen Receptors, so we could potentially have like Kintor Pharmaceuticals Androgen Receptor Degrader GT20029 but more potent and probably a treatment method that is just once off.
Thank you for the interesting contribution Sonic! I’m looking forward to more info on CRISPoff.
Cool stuff. How far out is this from reaching the public?
I don’t think Breezula’s phase 2 was as much as a failure as it’s made out to me.
The trial showed no adverse affects and the women under 30 did have an improvement even though FPB isn’t caused by androgens as much as MPB is.
We can imply that it should be more efficacious for MPB. Meaning no side affects and some efficacy on some women who aren’t affected by androgens as the same degree as men.
I even think the breezula phase 2 mentioned a finnesteride in females study that showed it wasn’t efficacious.
Oh also if anyone is interested in this seems some Kintor insiders are double down on their stakes in Kintor.
Maybe an indicator to just how good the trials have been going.
https://simplywall.st/stocks/hk/pharmaceuticals-biotech/hkg-9939/kintor-pharmaceutical-shares/news/the-non-executive-director-of-kintor-pharmaceutical-limited
Marc D, I saw your comment in the filter and barely caught a glimpse before it was deleted, please resend it.
Stemore look be better ;more cheap and more fast . A very expensive cure is not a cure
https://regeus.ru/
This Russian website announces an effective treatment for baldness
How true this news
Hi Ahmed, the pictures look pretty good. You could try it if you want to, I don’t have full confidence in it yet. I will probably ask Applied Bioloogy about it sometime soon.
Follicle thought I came across this article today and I’m scared to death. Finasteride has been a life saver for me dealing with hair loss for 4 years now since I’m a nw5 I need Finasteride or I will go into deep depression all the way to a NW7. I don’t want these assholes taking Finasteride away from me these are the same people that fear monger online and scare young men like me and then finally get on Finasteride and are side affect free with great hair results but if I never listen to them I would not be a nw5 I would have gotten on it sooner. Your thoughts please https://www.reuters.com/legal/litigation/group-sues-have-hair-loss-drug-propecia-pulled-market-2021-09-08/
Woofy, I understand your concerns at this point, try to come back to center, as this is only a speculative article at this point. Finasteride will always be on the market as a prostate drug and likely, a hair drug. So, there’s not a big concern here. I think the most likely scenario is that they may have to add a warning label for mental health concerns and that will be the end of the backlash from the activist group. You’re going to be able to keep your finasteride my guy, ?.
Well the opposite argument is fin can be nasty. It completely destroyed my neuro endocrine system. I had hair but was basically converting to a woman, wtf. My entire hormonal panel was wrecked and tons of neuro issues for a young man is terrifying. Just tread carefully on fin.
yeah its hard seeing Stemson genetic cure costing little when other genetic cures are 1 million dollars minimum. I think theyll get there. I just dont think they’ll get the automation machinery to work. for all we know it could take 1 year and 50 scientists to clone all the hair for 1 human in 2030. im just being practical. And yeah I think they want to help people. but so is biogen with their 50k a year Alzheimers drug, right.
I think the work they are doing in automation at this time is going to be very helpful in their process.
Next year a lot of companies are expected to start their clinical trials, i will be grateful even if only one of them becomes successful.
Some in Spain ?
Admin,
Keep posting these awesome articles. I always look forward to new posts. Thanks for dedication!
Thanks Matthew, yes this article should hold us out until next week or so. It’s probably the most important hair cloning interview we’ve had in the past 4 years. I definitely post news when it comes Also, check the Updates page which had 2 noteworthy news items in the last few days including a new peptide from Korea. I do mean it when I tell people to bookmark that page and check it a few times a week.
At the request of a reader I happened to follow up with a contact on the repigmentation research of RT1640. It turns out that there is still research being done in that regard and even through RiverTown is defunct, there are still at least chances of a future for RT1640 or the specific RT175 molecule which is the proprietary portion of RT1640. Just sharing a tidbit with you all. More info to come on this topic in the coming months.
Any sneak peaks for updates coming in October, Admin? 😉
Not at the moment Baumer. ?
News is slow right now, maybe shiseido can save us all at the end of the year
D1, why don’t you share your thoughts and ponderings on some of the current therapies which have been announced over the past 4-5 months.
some therapy to reverse the minituarized hair
Yes Jose, those could be something like Kintor’s GT20029.
Hello Admin, here one Doctor came up with interesting theory based on his experience and observation of doing many PRPs. He says, person with hairloss issue having thin skin comparatively. Thin skin layer having limited holding capacity for hair and so hair falls. Please share your opinion on this.
I’d love to see someone who had a high # of PRP treatments done with good data observing the effects. It seems logical that a lot of PRP could help replenish the tissue around a hair follicle, too. Most people never make it to a high # of PRP treatments. But, this theory would need to be proved.
Thank you Admin,
This doctor is doing many research and has created solution with .25% fin with best combination. This is getting popular here and many people are shifting to topical fin.
Is it ok to share the product link here in this forum?
It’s not a big deal. Just wondering, what’s the purpose of sharing the link?
Hi follicle thought I saw your reply I don’t remember exactly what I said but I was basically apologizing for leaving anxious comments, and I wanted to say great interview with stemsons therapeutic. If I may ask I saw your reply to mjones and you said you think they might start human trials in 2024 ? And also did I read this right the CEO said that the cloned hair isn’t going to be DHT resistant? You probably won’t read this since I’ve been banned.
Ok Marc, I believe in apologies and second chances, so you’re allowed to participate again. Please respect the site.
I did say that date as my own estimate, and the CEO said they’re still learning about DHT resistance, they certainly plan to have follicles that are durable like the follicles from the donor area.
OK thank you for the info . I know this sounds corny but God willing stemsons therapeutic can come out with hair cloning by 2027
That’d be great.
I always found the concept of DHT resistant hair follicles in hair cloning kind of funny. If an obstacle in cloning is making sure the cloned follicles are DHT resistant, which requires them to understand DHT resistance, wouldn’t overcoming that obstacle be “the cure” for native hair follicles? At that point, couldn’t they just use those findings to make native follicles DHT resistant?
That theory has some merit Mr. Burns. I just don’t know if using a Crispr type treatment to modify a head of hair is easier than creating a mini organ which is modified to be DHT resistant. I’m sure they will weigh that option at some point and could potentially develop an alternate therapy line.
Anyone using NGF 574. Any reviews
I’m putting a lot of my hopes in this company, though I know we are some seven to ten years away. After slowly thinning for forty years I have now run out of road. Looking at William Shatner, who has been wearing a wig for longer than that and is about to go into space with it, I’ve wondered whether I should take the plunge pending real hair restoration. Does anyone know what sort of system he wears ? Must be full head rather than toupee..Looks good.
Epibiotech has started testing and production of cell therapy.latest update today
Cool, Gurvinder thanks. I may something to share from them soon.
Good one Gurvinder hopefully get FT get more details soon
https://nuoss-tech.com/shop/pages/about/
is this More effective than topical minoxidil?
Dr. Tsuji is involved in this product.
They claim that Phytosphingosine helps hair growth.
Thanks for sharing SY, my guess would be no. But, it’s interesting that Dr. Tsuji is still helping to create these OTC products.
Interesting commentary from Dr. Rassman about the Amplifica company on the Updates page.
Thanks FT this could be out sooner?
I can’t understand the question really, Kapil. If it starts trials around January, then yes it could come out sooner than treatments that have not started trials yet.
I wonder whether it has to go through all phases or cosmetic route
Sorry for the confusing post
Thanks
If it’s going to be a topical, I suppose it may be a cosmetic, but they actually haven’t specified yet whether it’s a cosmetic.
I generally don’t visit the updates page, it feels good when i see updates from so many companies. Thank you for all your hard work admin. The comments from
Dr Raasman about his project is really interesting. I have a question, is prolonging the anagen phase essentially a cure? does this reactivate dormant follicles? Because many companies are working towards this goal like carthoniX , pelage and to some extent Ck biotech.
Prolonging or activating the anagen phase is another way of saying “this substance promotes hair growth.” It would depend on how strong the effect is to be considered a cure.
Hi follicle thought or admin I’m not sure which you prefer but I just saw your updated pipeline and you added more years to stemsons therapeutic before it was 2027 now its 2029 . and these are your own theories how disappointing I tend to believe it’s going to be even longer and they might not even be successful, this is not good for my mental health I had to see a therapist for this no joke and I think I speak for a lot of people when I say that. That’s cruel its mental torture and I’ve spoken to several dermatologist and they all told me that this technology is 20 years away if even possible forgive me if I’m coming off as rude that’s not my intention but I put my life on hold since 2016 waiting for any good news and it’s clear to me that I’ve wasted all this time for nothing I’m a norwood 2 and I’m 36 year’s old and I Wear a hat every day and I’m tired of it I think for my mental health I’m just going to go ahead and get an f.u.e done in TJ or Turkey. Life is to Short . and please forgive me but I do not believe tissuse and handbio at all or ukhairclone and I don’t believe in RCH-01. And your probably going to ban me again but it’s OK I’m not coming to this site anymore thank you for all your work it has been very informative to say the least take care bye .I’m going to go cry now : (
Hey Marc, no worries you’re not going to get banned for feeling down. Yep, the Ultimate Guide estimated dates can change often, at least once a year, depending on what a company accomplishes in that year. Your perspective on any of the potential companies is your choice. Also, the decision to wait or get an FUE is also definitely yours as an adult. It’s a good choice for you to see a therapist I believe, I’ve got no issue with this post, but please know the comment section is not intended to be a continual dumping grounds. I don’t mind the perspectives of dermatologists, 99% of them know very little about what is going on as far as technology. I think it would be practical for you to really face your situation squarely sometime and develop a “middle ground” footing, which helps you to overcome the occasional moments of highs and lows which feel overwhelming. Take care
@FT why do you think Rassmann’s product might be a cosmetic?
D1, I did not say I did. Someone else brought it up.
Hi admin,
Thanks for the article.
Did you hear from moogene medi or turn?
Their tech could be promising.
Thanks
Hi thanks. Turn’s interview was published several months ago, it’s the first mention of the company on any hair websites. Hopefully Moogene has an update before the end of the year.
Hey FT,
I came across this interview with DR Tsuji. The grammar and language is confusing but it says “ THE INTIAL hair follicle regeneration clinical TRIAL INVESTED about 500 MILLION YEN. If the results are confirmed, I want to spend an additional 1 billion to 1.5 billion yen to gradually increase the number of trials.”
I Wonder if they conducted a small trial? Or is the translation just plain wrong.
Source: https://inf.news/en/science/160051c60a9cc925f5c1cba615504fdc.html
Thanks very much for sharing Twenti, I would have to imagine that the trial was not completed yet. But, at least Dr. Tsuji is still talking about a hair trial in the media.
The original article appears to have been published by the DailyShincho, a Japanese news outlet.
https://www.dailyshincho.jp/article/2021/08031056/?all=1
Very cool, Twenti. Thanks
I thought Tsuji is done and dusted after all these years still talking about mouse model!!!!
Hello Admin, I see you have Q3’2022 for Hairclone Cell Expansion. This recent clip at 15:46 mins has Paul saying ‘early next year’.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=584KEeO1B7U&t=1s
Thanks OV Wright, I will leave it at Q3 2022 for now and if the treatment does in fact come out sooner, then that’s great news for us.
Hello,
I will start immediately with the disclaimer that the mentioned product is company funded and based on “botano-ceuticals”. The ingredients to this product are akin to what we’ve seen in any “natural” hair growth concoction.
Nevertheless, it might be interesting for some to share the recently published study on ALRV5XR for men (the study for the clinical trial in women was shared here recently).
https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC8435693/
Thanks for sharing
Hello, Admin
Saw this update on Cassiopea. Not sure what it means for CB:
https://www.cassiopea.com/2021/10/04/cosmo-pharmaceuticals-n-v-launches-public-exchange-offer-to-acquire-cassiopea-s-p-a/
Hi Baumer
We can’t be sure anything with our experience Histogen did exactly same with their IPO collect good fund and fold
Cassiopeia at least 3 years delayed that make suspicious ,we always welcome news some good and some just news
Replicel finally submitted an arbitration claim against Shiesido today
To all the people saying a cure will cost 5-25k. you have your answer now. after tsuji trial. it will never go that low.
I don’t know who expected a hair cloning procedure to cost less than a standard hair transplant, but yes it would naturally take a very long time to be around the $25k mark. A hair transplant for 8,000 grafts could average around $60k in the US right now. That’s around the size of transplant necessary for those who are around NW7 to get pretty good coverage.
yeah, I hear what your saying, but 1.) the treatment is expensive to manufacture.
2.) this idea that Stemson is doing it out of the goodness of their heart screams bs to me. I think the guys making insulin for 60 cents and selling it for 2000 are doing it out of the goodness of their heart too.
the truth is this thing is gonna cost 100-200k. will it work, 50/50
I thought Tsuji was dead. the focus should be “IF” this cloning comes out, not dream about an unrealistic price for a product that isn’t released yet.
and yes follicle thought, there were a bunch of people on hairlosstalk saying this could cost as much as a hair transplant. 25k. I laughed.
Prices are all guesses for now.
By the way it’s not confirmed that Tsuji is in a trial and my feeling is that he’s not in a trial yet, just my current guess.
im skeptical as well. I mean they did research for 10 years. if thy cant finish, they should sell the company to a Pharma company at least. If he’s in trial great. the sooner we know if it will/will not work on humans the better.
I don’t know who the bigger fool is
or Crazy Japanese who
asking for huge money for his therapy.
Even though he didn’t make the cure
or the people on this site who even mention such scientists
Good news:
HairClone will be available in some UK Clinics in “early 2022” according to Paul Kemp, HairClone CEO
https://youtu.be/584KEeO1B7U
Fast forward the video to 15:30 timestamp.
Very interesting video.. he is speaking at the ISHRS 2021
People in the UK should start reaching out to prominent hair transplant clinics to see if they’re partnering with HairClone and get a possible price estimate
If hairclone can grow miniaturised hair and convert the DHT sensitive hair to DHT resistant hair as they claim, the its a very very good news
New article tomorrow
Watched the HairClone interview, the guy states they wont do clinical trials but instead will release it to clinics so they can offer the service without prior evidence since UK regulations state that those qualified (Dermatologists) can prescribe without trials being done.
I hope that it works, but hearing that isn’t very good since they arent willing to bet on a trial to prove it works… Yikes! I hope it still works regardless though.
That’s not what they’re actually doing JP. They do this way first and when they find the optimal protocol they want to put it into a clinical trial. Follicle Thought has been covering HairClone for the past 3-4 years and have many interviews and comments with their CEO.
Admin, isnt trying such a cell procedure that hairclone doing dangerous for safety reasons also liability issues to hair transplant clinics doing it? No clinical safety trial and straight up doing it on people with no idea the consequences or if it works……am I missing something?
There’s no claims made about its efficacy so patients are to know that it hasn’t passed an efficacy trial yet. As far as safety, it’s basically guaranteed to be safe. There were similar trials done by Intercytex, Aderans, and Replicel which show safety is not an issue. The issue is whether it works or not and I’m sure there are many patients in the UK (and abroad) that want to give it a shot to find out. The difference is HairClone is targeting thinning hair instead of bald scalp and they think the cells will work in this situation.
Fingers crossed admin. I’ll take anything that thicken up my miniaturized hairs. I’m diffuse and this could help out big time with just thickening….still crazy that the last mpb approved drug was propecia back in 1997 lol….its like what is going on in this industry lol
More Q and A’s from HairClone:
Q: hey hey I am sorry to ask you again, but I am still a bit confused if it is theoretically possible for a random person (let’s say, me) to come to England in 2022 to pay and get the treatment? As it was announced by these blogs, or does that just mean you start doing private trials on some people?
A:
It’s unclear at the moment how people will be treated because it is illegal to advertise the treatment until officially approved. So we need to test on people who actively seek us out through our clinical partners most likely or trichologists. There will be criteria (like early stage hair loss and probably below 45 or something).
Once we (hopefully!) show it works, people can visit their trichologist/hair transplant surgeon who can prescribe our service as an unlicensed, experimental approach. Then we have to do clinical trials by recruiting people from around the world, which will lead to full approval and licence to market the treatment. That is the point where it would be more widely available, which is years away, BUT the aim is to start treating people next year.
Hi everyone so you know how I’ve said multiple times on here I’m a Norwood 5? Well when I went and saw Dr Alan Bauman in 2017 he told me I was a Norwood 5 he prescribed me Finasteride. I than did a Skype consultation in October of 2017 with Dr jerry Wong who is located in Canada he also told me I was a Norwood 5 and but said “most doctors would say you are a nw5 but I’m going to place you at a Norwood 6” fast forward to know I emailed Dr William Rassman and Dr Shaver who works with Dr Robert Bernstein at Bernstein medical in new York and I sent them my pictures and they both emailed me back saying I was a Norwood 3 vertex. So if I was a Norwood 5 in 2017 when I got on Finasteride could Finasteride bring me to a Norwood 3 vertex? Why vertex and not the regular Norwood 3? Also my dad is a Norwood 3 vertex and he’s 64 so could bauman and Wong have been wrong about my pattern?
Sorry for spelling errors it’s late I’m tired lol.
If you send photos to more doctors and they all place you around a NW3 now then it must be that finasteride reversed some of your loss. Good to hear.
Yeah. Thank you FT ?
I know a lot of people are pessimistic on here because they’ve been told hair cloning is a couple years away for 20 years lol but i cant understand this pessimism when they have literally taken stem cells, cultured/multiplied them combined them with epithelial cells and CREATED NEW HUMAN HAIR FOLLICLES. This is not stuff of science fiction or imagination…its real. yes there have been problems in the past such as controlling direction of growth but this has been solved with 3d bioscaffolds(tech for this would not have even existed 20 years ago). What the hold up is now im not so sure but people should take comfort that this is not something we hope can be done… it is being done.
We’ve got to keep going going going for sure. And the scaffolds may still be a work in progress, but it’s a great step forward.
[…] in the world right now; a national publication would not have captured half of the detail presented here. I hope you all enjoy it. Head to the Articles page to read about the latest at Stemson […]
[…] can find our previous interview with Stemson here. This interview gives us unique insight into Stemson Therapeutics’ progress and explains the […]