Medical advancements... never coming

[YavrumKurt]

I remember four years ago when I had my first hair transplant, all the doctors I spoke with were very optimistic of a new technique for transplanting that would somehow revolutionize the field of medicine.

 

Two transplants later, I am still looking for a bigger and better options. I am even considering going to China, because of their greater willingness to experiment.

 

So, what happened? Was it the bust in the economy that made all the research take a nosedive? The newest articles are all saying things like;

 

"Study Links Baldness To Stem Cells"

"Scientists work on perking up dormant follicles"

"Cause for male baldness found"

 

What happened? Why is the current research so much less optimistic than five-six years back? Is it because stem cells weren't being researched, and people were hopeful of the end of the ban?

Edited February 2, 2011 by YavrumKurt

[mahhong]

Treatments take a long time to get to market and a long time to filter through the medical community into common use, unfortunately.

 

I think there is plenty of exciting research and trialling happening worldwide at the moment, and a lot of encouraging data to support it, but things have to be tested for efficacy and safety. Techniques for usage have to be developed, refined and explained. Those ideas then need to be documented, presented and brought to the medical community and shown to other doctors who, themselves, need to learn and become comfortable with them.

 

That takes time, usually years. If I discovered THE bona fide cure for hairloss in my garage today I probably couldn't get it to market within 5 years, and it's be a hard enough task to do it within 7-10.

 

Of course, the internet is a hive of information unlike never before. So, when a tiny company in Taiwan posts a tidbit of news about a promising treatment they're looking into, it becomes front page news in the hairloss community for a few days. It makes it feel like it's weeks away when, in fact, if it even has any positive use it's likely to be a long time coming.

 

The good news is there are several really promising treatments and advances which are being tested and have made it past initial concept to more detailed trials. But it's like a delayed reaction; that amazing drug (or technique) you're hearing of today is (if it ever turns out to work at all) really 5-10 years away from market because of the various tests, trials and difficulties that lie in the way.

 

My advice would be to stay away from people offering experiments; especially when it comes to stem cells. There's a reason clinical trials take a long time and a huge part of that reason is to test for safety and any longer term effects. If anybody is willing to jump the gun and give you something before it's been proven safe or effective, then that's bad ethics.

 

It's frustrating watching the hair fall out and hearing about a new drug or procedure every other day, but that's life. Things are moving though; there are several promising techniques being researched right now and one (ACell) is already FDA approved for use. How successful such techniques are in the hairloss industry only time can tell, but I think within the next 5 years there should be a few more options on the table. No magic bullets, but an ever expanding arsenal of techniques to combat hairloss and do it more effectively. But my advice is to wait until the bigger and better options are proven safe and reliable. The last thing you want to do is mess with untested medicine. The results can be disastrous indeed.

[TakingThePlunge]

I'm 42 years old. I started receding and worrying about hair loss at around the age of 20. I distinctly remember watching the news one day when I was about 21. The report said that the Japanese were developing a pill to treat hair loss that would simultaneously reduce body hair and that it would be available within 5 years. Man...I was so relieved to hear that!

 

That was the first of many disappointments and a hard lesson learned. However, I'm still uncharacteristically optimistic when it comes to a hair loss cure or even more effective treatments. I feel that one or more of the treatments currently in development are are going to pay off in the near future. Step cell application are growing my leaps and bounds.

[MusoInOz]

Hi Guys,

 

This whole scenario of future trials and cures relating to hairloss honestly need to be let go as a hope mechanism by some posters on this forum. Many times forum users state they will just hold out for such treatments…quite odd. Very optimistic outlook, I do commend it.

 

On the flip side they have engineered vehicles which run on air, why are they not in the market??

Oh, $$$$$$$$$.

Why would they release the vehicle if they blatantly knew creating or designing another fossil fuel guzzler would be far more profitable?

 

This same concept applies to the hairloss industry, if a miracle drug/treatment comes to fruition all of your favourite physicians can potentially kiss their years of perfecting HT goodbye. Minox would be void, Fin would be void. There is too much at stake for companies such as Pfizer etc to ever let such a cure escape, surely they would pay top dollar to keep it underground for as long as possible.

I certainly may sound like quite the conspiracy theorist however it has applied to other industries in the past, why would this stop at the hair loss industry.

Food for thought.

 

Cheers,

Edited February 4, 2011 by MusoInOz

[mattj]

MusoInOz,

 

Those 'conspiracy theories' have occured to me too, but it seems reasonable that a drug company that doesn't already have a stake in the hairloss market would not hesitate to release a revolutionary treatment if one were developed.

[gmonasco]

On the flip side they have engineered vehicles which run on air, why are they not in the market?

 

Because there is no such thing as a commercially viable automobile that "runs on air."

 

Why would they release the vehicle if they blatantly knew creating or designing another fossil fuel guzzler would be far more profitable?

 

The automobile industry has a vested interest in anything that gets people to drive more. If more people wanted to drive vehicles than ran on "air" rather than gasoline, and such vehicles were commercially viable to manufacture, the auto industry would be producing them.

 

If a miracle drug/treatment comes to fruition all of your favourite physicians can potentially kiss their years of perfecting HT goodbye.

 

Hair transplant surgeons aren't the ones who conduct research into developing medical hair loss cures, not are they in a position to stifle such research.

 

Minox would be void, Fin would be void. There is too much at stake for companies such as Pfizer etc to ever let such a cure escape, surely they would pay top dollar to keep it underground for as long as possible.

 

You falsely assume that:

 

a) Such treatments would be mutually exclusive with a "cure" rather than complementary.

 

b) The developers would happily see the product of all their hard work suppressed just to sell it to a big pharma company that wants to suppress it (even though the product would be worth huge money in its own right).

 

c) The market for a true hair loss cure wouldn't be immensely larger than the market for minox and fin.

Edited February 3, 2011 by gmonasco

[Mp96]

This is old news.. No cure in our life time and if there is one, ill be too old to care anymore!!

[lorenzo]

There are drugs that are being produced that will stop hairloss. You can actually have a person to person hair transplant using anti rejection drugs. The problem is the drugs have such huge side effects its not work having hair over.

[mahhong]

I don't really subscribe to the whole conspiracy theory idea. I don't doubt there's a bit of foul play from time to time and of course companies have their own interests, but it's in the interests of the hairloss industry to advance the cause. We live in a world where conspiracies theories about the man vs. the corporations or the state are popular and easy to perpetuate, but I don't believe that's the main reason, or even one of the major contributing factors.

 

I don't imagine a 'cure' any time soon, but I do imagine advancements in the next 5-10 years in surgery and medication. The point is there isn't going to a magic pill or procedure that can give you your hair back easily, cheaply and quickly any time soon. But there are going to be increasing combinations of techniques that can provide people with genuinely excellent coverage I would imagine.

 

The patents are up on propecia/proscar soon (if not already) and the same with minoxidil. That means they're pretty much there for anybody to take advantage of anyway. I don't believe there's much for the drug companies to try and suppress and, if anything, they need new and improved product coming their way. But medicine is nearly always evolution and rarely revolution and I think people are hoping for that front page find that will solve everything. Life doesn't work that way, but if you look at how things have developed over just the last 10-15 years the surgical techniques and drugs available have quite literally skyrocketed, and now there are men with severe hairloss getting good heads of hair back. In 15 years time I doubt we'll have a 'cure', but I think we'll be looking back at this time the same way we look back at the early-90's.

[MusoInOz]

Gmonasco,

 

As I am on my iPhone writing a detailed response will be difficult and I will surely reply once I fnish work for the day.

 

I think you have totally misunderstood my point, I do enjoy the fact that you latched to my initial claims of vehicles running on air...

Unless you are seeking some form of argument from me I suggest you allow me to reply correcty.

Can I add that I would not argue on this forum, thanks.

 

Cheers guys,

Edited February 4, 2011 by MusoInOz
My vehicle ran out of air...

[Shadow of the EMpire State]

Medicine and pharmacology move at a glacial pace. Progress is certainly happening, but these things take decades.

 

Baldness is certainly curable, and in time, there will be a cure. But it's not going to be "in the next five years." Or ten. The smallest unit of medical/pharmacological advancement is probably about 20 years.

[scar5]

Because there is no such thing as a commercially viable automobile that "runs on air."

 

The automobile industry has a vested interest in anything that gets people to drive more. If more people wanted to drive vehicles than ran on "air" rather than gasoline, and such vehicles were commercially viable to manufacture, the auto industry would be producing them.

 

 

I remember when Japanese fuel-injected cars started to replace carburetor models in my local market in the 1980s. I was impressed by the badges on the side of the cars that said "Fuel Injection". It only occurred to me later to when I studied WW2 airplanes that in the that Japanese/German aircraft were fuel-injected, turbo-charged, methane injected, bla bla.etc. etc. in the 1930s!!

 

As for hair. My first HT was 1988 and I distinctly remember mt doc saying big things were 'around the corner'. Very soon Propecia came and that was/IS big news, no doubt about it, but other than that. However, imagine how many balding patients signed away their right to ever buzz/shave on account of the possibility that technology would augment their HT(s?) to keep it(them?) viable as DHT continued on its merry way and the only thing growing was the patients getting increasingly desperate and isolated.

[Blake Bloxham]

Medicine and pharmacology move at a glacial pace. Progress is certainly happening, but these things take decades.

 

Couldn't have said it better myself!

 

We've come to a point in society where the breakthroughs in medicine, bio-engineering, and research are astonishing. However, for every breakthrough that achieves a 10 minute spot on a local news station or a mention on the CNN homepage there are literally decades of behind the scenes research, trials, theorizing, and sacrifice that's never mentioned or observed.

 

Genetics, the human body, engineered compounds, etc, are extremely complex entities, and progressing from understanding a condition to isolating its source to theorizing a cure and finally to creating a therapy is a huge ordeal. Some of the greatest minds of our times have spent lifetimes on uber-specific aspects of research and still never achieved their goals. What I'm trying to say is that these breakthroughs are real and do happen, but it takes an immense amount of talent, dedication, time and MONEY.

 

However, we've definitely reached an exciting point in biochemical/medical research and I do believe regenerative medicine ("stem cells," etc) will start demonstrating some impressive therapies for conditions like hair loss. Additionally, like someone else pointed out, I don't think these findings will come from hair restoration physicians but from Ph.D.'s working on research in large universities.

 

I definitely think big therapies are coming, but I do think it will take a significant amount of time and that it's always advantageous to seek proven, relevant treatments in the present while waiting for the "cures" of tomorrow.

[MusoInOz]

My reply…let’s call it “interaction’. Please note I am not looking to push an argument, my intentions are either in good faith or simply just a bout of fun.

 

No such thing?? Not commercially viable…Really?

Seems pretty realistic and to be fairly viable to me.

Oh, and don’t worry. I could link plenty of info regarding additional corporate think tanks engineering similar vehicles, but I am sure you have access to Google also.

Ok, so we just turn a blind eye to the fact most of the major oil companies basically control what these vehicle manufacturers design, produce and sell?

IF they happen to design something new such as “the air powered engine” the oil companies would surely step in to buy the original plans…there is minimal profit in it for them otherwise. The oil company purchases the plans; the vehicle manufacturer pockets a few billion, opens another plant and continues in its ways. This process happens! Not to mention the Governments, officials etc mixed into the pot of bribery.

I do not recall claiming HT physicians specifically would attempt to stifle any future research for a cure. I DID claim that industry leading drug corporations would go to such lengths…and so! I am a previous employee of one; I would like to think some of the knowledge accrued during my employment was semi-truthful.

Possibly I should have stipulated this in my earlier post.

So you presume these “developers” wouldn’t sell their findings/ideas but instead market the entire treatment themselves to potentially be copied by the major pharmaceutical companies anyway (who would easily market this in conjunction with their long standing trademark name)?? The logical step (unless they are quite the humanitarians) would be to sell off. If the developers are scientists or doctors another disease/issue would be the next point of call for them, by this time the funding for their future research would be almost infinite, there are relating stories to similar events constantly.

 

Also, think of this scenario:

A standard hairloss suffer purchases Minox and Propecia once per month as part of their regimen.

They continue to do so for the next 20 years…OR, they walk into a hairloss clinic that cure them in one treatment.

Unless the treatment provided to cure this particular person’s hairloss was of a grossly substantial amount then it would not equate to the same amount spent if keeping with his current regimen of Minox and Fin.

The market may be immensely larger, but financially for the major companies producing Minox/Fin related products the size of the market would be void. Every company affiliated would have a finger in the pie so to speak right down to the plastics manufacturer who supplies the Minox containers, this sounds ridiculous I know however the effected line would be extensive.

I realise this may still sound quite conspiracy based however with the responses I have provided are more so based around greedy logics. One would be very na?ve to assume such protocols do not exist.

 

I chose not to re-quote during my post as I find quoting somewhat condescending.

 

 

Cheers,

Edited February 5, 2011 by MusoInOz

[largechris]

Bear in mind that there is no FDA approved treatment that was originally designed to treat hairloss, as far as I know, fin, minox, dutas (maybe in future), (acell?) were all developed to treat prostate or heart conditions. It was just that hair growth was observed as a side effect!

 

So there is no evidence that an approved non surgical treatment is anywhere close. I would say at least another 20 years.

 

The big advances in medicine have mostly been innovative surgery rather than drug based. How little we really know about the human body!

[gmonasco]

No such thing?? Not commercially viable…Really?

 

Yes. really. It's not commercially viable because:

 

a) Too much energy is lost in the process of converting chemical energy to electrical energy to compressed air.

 

b) The efficiency of compressed air energy storage vehicles is so low that they have larger carbon footprints than internal combustion (i.e., fossil fuel-driven) vehicles.

 

c) U.S. consumers don't want to plunk down money for vehicles with such a limited range when they can spend the same money on cars suitable for either short- or long-range trips.

 

Seems pretty realistic and to be fairly viable to me.

 

Only if you have a flawed understanding of the concept of "commercially viable."

 

Ok, so we just turn a blind eye to the fact most of the major oil companies basically control what these vehicle manufacturers design, produce and sell?

 

Please adjust your tinfoil hat before resuming your ride here at the Hair Restoration Discussion Forum.

 

IF they happen to design something new such as “the air powered engine” the oil companies would surely step in to buy the original plans…there is minimal profit in it for them otherwise. The oil company purchases the plans; the vehicle manufacturer pockets a few billion, opens another plant and continues in its ways. This process happens!

 

Only in the realm of urban legends:

snopes.com: Miracle Carburetor

 

I do not recall claiming HT physicians specifically would attempt to stifle any future research for a cure.

 

You said: "If a miracle drug/treatment comes to fruition all of your favourite physicians can potentially kiss their years of perfecting HT goodbye." What else would one reasonably infer from that statement?

 

So you presume these “developers” wouldn’t sell their findings/ideas but instead market the entire treatment themselves

 

No, I said they aren't going to spend all that time and effort developing a cure and then happily walk away after selling out to a company that simply wants to suppress the product of their work. There are contractual ways of preventing that from happening.

 

Also, think of this scenario: A standard hairloss suffer purchases Minox and Propecia once per month as part of their regimen. They continue to do so for the next 20 years…OR, they walk into a hairloss clinic that cure them in one treatment.

 

As has already been noted, the patents on those drugs are going to expire relatively soon, so your example is moot. And as I already noted, you falsely assume that any such treatments will be mutually exclusive rather than complementary.

 

Here's a scenario for you: Scientists discover a drug that will regrow hair on the heads of men with MPB, but the regrown hair isn't completely DHT resistant. How do you think such a development might affect the sales of finasteride?

[Balboa]

with the recent go ahead with gene science and cloning at least now we have the ball rolling.

its just a waiting game.

 

have a read of this by dr bernstien

http://www.bernsteinmedical.com/hair-cloning/

Edited February 5, 2011 by Balboa

[gmonasco]

with the recent go ahead with gene science and cloning at least now we have the ball rolling.

 

At this point we don't really know if the ball is indeed rolling.

 

its just a waiting game.

 

As it has been for centuries.

 

have a read of this by dr bernstien

 

That's just an outline of a concept; it's not something that has been proved feasible, much less perfected.