hair cloning

[muttley]

Just a quick question but how far off realistically is hair cloning/multiplication?

Some forums suggest aderans 2014 while others say at least another 5/10 years.

Regards barry

[Gary1911A1]

For as long as i can remember its 5 years away ..... Always 5 years away :rolleyes:

 

Sadly it has seen to be the same to me too. They can clone a whole sheep, but not hair.:confused:

[tacolinowest]

they can clone hair right now, but for some reason the hair doesn't grow, imo hair cloning is more than 10 years away, but less than 20

[Blake Bloxham]

Complicated question (in my opinion) ...

 

First, like taco said, "cloning" in a very limited sense, is currently possible. Until recently, several researchers and organizations were able to clone a limited number of follicles (especially in mice), but they noticed a problem when it came to normal follicle functioning and reproducible cycling. A few weeks ago, a researcher suggested that this is because the cloned follicles (or more accurately, the isolated dermal papilla stem cells from the bulb of the follicles) weren't grown appropriately. The researcher stated that when culturing cells in a spheroid fashion (opposed to a flat culture medium), the cells were able to better induce normal hair follicles.

 

Having said that, I think we've yet to see a reliable process for cloning or multiplication, and it's difficult to say how long this will take.

 

Here are a few updates on some of the well known researchers/organizations who are working on futuristic treatments (specifically cloning):

 

-Aderans, as you mentioned, actually hasn't provided any updates for quite some time. While they were initially working on true hair multiplication (cloning), it seems like they may have slightly changed their strategy during phase II testing and now believe their treatment could produce DHT immunity for existing follicles, opposed to actually creating new hair follicles. However, the details are a bit sparse, and we haven't seen an update in a while.

 

-Histogen is actually working on more of a growth factor solution that helps revitalize existing follicles (opposed to cloning). In this sense, their treatment is more about augmenting and possibly re-awakening follicles than it is multiplication/cloning. A few weeks ago, they released an update on their phase II trials, and the reaction has been a bit "luke warm."

 

-Follica (headed by Dr. George Cotsarelis) recently shared some updates on their work, and they've seen some results from their wounding studies (where a wound is created in the scalp, some sort of growth factor - likely a WNT derivative - is added, and the combination of the healing and the growth factor creates follicle growth), and also recently released the discovery of a new growth factor fgf9 that is supposedly crucial in the follicle growth cycle. Follica is also doing a lot of work with PGD2 and believe inhibiting certain prostaglandins is a crucial part of true hair restoration.

 

-Replicel - an organization using cells from a slightly different part of the hair follicle environment - also just received a patent on their technology and were purchased/provided funding ($4 million) from a big Japanese company. It's uncertain how they will really progress from here.

 

-Dr. Nigams is also doing some interesting work in India. He's working on both donor doubling techniques and true hair multiplication. He's culturing dermal papilla cells in a spheroid fashion (like I discussed earlier) and also adding other growth factors that are either found in healthy scalp surrounding hair follicles or are thought to be important in normal cell cycling. Because he is in India, Dr. Nigams is able to research much more freely. While this is exciting for many patients (because he's researching while practicing the techniques on real patients), it's uncertain how these types of treatments would be perceived by a review body like the US FDA.

 

-A few other researchers -specifically a team in Tokyo and Dr. Lauster in Germany - are working on some pretty complicated follicle neogenesis, but their final goal and progression isn't as clear.

 

I know I probably missed a few, but this is kind of a recap of all the current news/developments. Personally, I think the developments with donor doubling procedures are the most exciting, and I think we will see more developments on this front before we see reproducible hair multiplication.

 

As far as a timeline is concerned ... I'm not even sure I could provide an estimate.

 

Hope this helps!

[Spanker]

$4 million for Replicel? I wonder if that was a total buy out or for a small portion of the company. $4 million is really a drop in the bucket. I think if they really had something going it would be worth 10 times that, or more. I may be wrong, and I hope I am, but that figure is a little disheartening as far as the future of repliciel.

[agenteye]

I agree Spanker. $4 million for a hopeful company who is making potentially big "break-throughs" in a $1.2 BILLION/year industry seems like a quick sell out. Hopefully that figure is a typo. Now may be a good time to buy stock in Replicel?! =)

 

On a side note, looks like there is a lot of promising stuff on the horizon!! Thanks for updating and condensing all of that info for the community, Blake!

[Blake Bloxham]

Hi Guys,

 

The $4 million is not a typo. Like you guys said, many commented and speculated about the smaller size of the investment for a biotech company. I suppose only time will tell why it was given and/or accepted.

[KO]

4mil is fine for an early stage startup. Once they advance to later stage trials, price ramps up accordingly. If they pass P2 and advance to P3...diff story.

[Mickey85]

20 years. Cloning will initially be used for medical purposes, not cosmetic. Cloning for medical purposes is still not within the next 10 years. Things have to go through many trials which can last many years before they are available to the public. There is also the ethical issue of cloning anything that is a hinderence regardless of the benefits to mankind. Let alone the actual method and development of it. Cgances are we will have a new fuel source before hair cloning is available.

 

All the companies out there who claim they are going to clone follicles are not telling the whole truth, much like Blake explained in that they are not creating new hairs, rather re-awakening hair or regenerating donor supply and even those things are not proven.

[MyNameIsRich]

My guess is 10 years, but there is definitely nothing to suggest it won't happen in our lifetime, because of all the trials and tests going on right now.

[sapo]

Thank you, Blake. Your updates is what I call 'Public Service'.

Incidentally, last month I read an interview by the CEO of Follica. He seems to be confident. 1 to 2 years, they say..well that's the Daily Mail..

Funny point, their initial research was about hair removal..:rolleyes:

[MAGNUMpi]

even after it starts working imagine how long it will take to be even somewhat affordable.

[Blake Bloxham]

Hi Guys,

 

Unfortunate Aderans update: Aderans to Stop Funding its Hair Multiplication Research.

[Gary1911A1]

Not encouraging news there Blake. Hopefully other will crack the screat code to doing this.

[haircloning2]

Aderans Research Institute (ARI) which is considered the leading commercial player in the field have decided to close its facilities (at least temporarily) due to lack of funding:

 

I suggest that everyone who is interested in this matter will help raise the awareness and interest of funding the researches by entrepreneurs.

For this purpose i opened a facebook page, to help spread the awareness for hair cloning solution, which in my understanding is very close to be a reality. Even if it takes years, leaving this subject without resources will lengthen these years.