Tsuji Lab Partnering, Follicum First Trial: Weekly Thoughts 3/24/16

Hello Everybody,

I hope you all enjoy this edition of Weekly Thoughts which contains exciting news about the Tsuji Lab and a new nano-coating technology for stem cells.

Tsuji Backed By Major Partner

Dr. Takashi Tsuji of the Riken Research Institute has found a sponsor for his potential game changing hair growth research. Meiji Seika Pharma has agreed to pay the way for Dr. Tsuji to do the work necessary to determine if his groundbreaking stem cell research is applicable to humans. Tsuji has previously shown the ability to regenerate hair and teeth in mice using unique and advanced stem cell engineering techniques. The partnership is a three year collaboration where Meiji Seika will pay the costs for Tsuji to continue his research at Riken Institute. In exchange for their charitable work with Tsuji, Meiji Seika will acquire the rights to commercialize the hair growth product developed by Tsuji if the research proves to be a success in humans.

This is really good. I believe this is something a lot of people have been wishing for. A major pharma company has put up a lot of money to bring one of the very best stem cell researcher’s work to fruition. What’s even better is that this research happens to be located in Japan, which has laws to expedite stem cell medicine to a market release. We’ll have to be a bit patient on this one though, this might just be the most promising science we’ve heard of.

Follicum Updates

One of my favorite little gems from Sweden, Follicum, continues to post noteworthy updates on their website. This latest press release mentions that 10 volunteers have received the maximum dose of FOL-005 with no adverse effects noted. Now, Follicum looks to compose a safety report and present it to the ethics committee of the country in which the trials are taking place to begin their next phase 2a trial. The next trial will include about 30 people receiving multiple doses of FOL-005 per week. Follicum hopes to report on the results from that trial by the end of the 2016.

Nano-Coated Hair Stem Cells

This news was released a few months ago, but I was in the midst of moving at the time and did not get around to posting it.

Researchers from China and Canada have developed a new tissue engineering technique that can be applied to hair regeneration. The technique involves coating hair follicle stem cells with a polymer based clothing that contains biological nutrients. In this particular research they chose to load the coated dermal papillae cells with FGF2, or fibroblast growth factror 2.

First, the hair cells are coated with gelatin, then a composition of FGF2, and then an outer layer of gelatin. This nano-coating technology provides protection for the cells and a source of nutrition which creates a more natural environment for the cells to thrive in and produce hair. Mice that were injected with the coated hair cells did grow an abundant amount of terminal hair. The researchers involved in this study, Zhi-Qu Hu and Malcolm Xing are working to move this research into human clinical studies.