Someone asked Rassman this question last year about gefitinib:
“Have you ever heard of a drug called Gefitinib? P.A. Burt observed a few years ago that a patient treated with the drug who had been bald for many years experienced sudden robust hair growth. I know of one other anecdotal report in which a patient experienced terminal hair growth at the tip of his nose. Aside from this, I’m not able to find any other infromation on the drug. I wonder what its safety profile and mechanism of action would be, especially when administered concomitantly with finasteride. Cool, huh?”
Note the guy mentions “bald for many years”. That’s really exiciting, I was just talking about EGF inhibitor on another forum that how over expression of EGF could make it difficult for hair to grow and inhibiting it, followed by abrasion could actually help follicles.
There is a possibility that the bald guy probably shaved his head quite often, and when he got on gefitinib, he created a good environment for follicles to make terminal hair. Btw, People who don’t know about gefitinib, this is one of the drugs used in Follica procedure
» Someone asked Rassman this question last year about
» gefitinib:
»
» “Have you ever heard of a drug called Gefitinib? P.A. Burt observed a
» few years ago that a patient treated with the drug who had been bald for
» many years experienced sudden robust hair growth. I know of one
» other anecdotal report in which a patient experienced terminal hair growth
» at the tip of his nose. Aside from this, I’m not able to find any other
» infromation on the drug. I wonder what its safety profile and mechanism of
» action would be, especially when administered concomitantly with
» finasteride. Cool, huh?”
»
» Note the guy mentions “bald for many years”. That’s really exiciting, I
» was just talking about EGF inhibitor on another forum that how over
» expression of EGF could make it difficult for hair to grow and inhibiting
» it, followed by abrasion could actually help follicles.
»
» There is a possibility that the bald guy probably shaved his head quite
» often, and when he got on gefitinib, he created a good environment for
» follicles to make terminal hair. Btw, People who don’t know about
» gefitinib, this is one of the drugs used in Follica procedure
»
»
»
That’s definitely exciting… it’s like all those random bits of research, personal stories, and general information are starting to merge into a possible cure.
» Does anyone know how to read this? when I open it, all I see is “Hair
» growth after gefitinib treatment.” - I’d like to read the full
» study/report.
»
» http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16149296
» » Does anyone know how to read this? when I open it, all I see is “Hair
» » growth after gefitinib treatment.” - I’d like to read the full
» » study/report.
» »
» »
» http://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pubmed/16149296
»
» Can anyone please get this article/study??
He was started on gefitinib 250 mg daily in July 2004, which he tolerated well. In August 2004, he was pleasantly surprised by new hair growth in
a previously long-standing bald patch on the vertex of his scalp (Fig. 1).
The hair was of a different colour and texture to his normal hair. In May
2005, he is still on gefitinib and enjoying his new appearance.
Heres the image. the hair with the different texture is supposedly the new hair. If that is true then well I can’t say anything else then that it’s awesome not perfect but still awesome.
Correspondence
doi:10.1016/j.clon.2005.05.001
Hypothyroidism in Thyroid Carcinoma Follow-up: Orlistat
May Inhibit the Absorption of Thyroxine
Sir d Orlistat is used in the management of obesity to reduce the
absorption of fat. Thyroxine is used in the management of welldifferentiated
thyroid cancer to suppress thyroid-stimulating hormone
(TSH) production. We report a case of symptomatic hypothyroidism
occurring after the commencement of orlistat in a patient with papillary
carcinoma of the thyroid.
After total thyroidectomy and radio-iodine ablation, suppression of
TSH by the anterior pituitary is part of the standard management
of differentiated thyroid cancer [1]. Doses of thyroxine in the order of
175–200 mg are commonly required to produce adequate suppression
[2]. Orlistat is a recently licenced drug used in obesity management.
Orlistat promotes weight loss by reducing the absorption of energy
dense fat. It is a potent inhibitor of pancreatic and gastric lipases,
allowing about 30% of dietary fat to pass through the gastrointestinal
tract unabsorbed [3].
A 46-year-old woman was diagnosed in August 2002 with papillary
carcinoma of the thyroid. After completing thyroidectomy in September
2002, and radio-active iodine (I131 3000 MBq) ablation therapy in
December 2002, she was commenced on 250 mg of thyroxine daily.
Thyroid function tests carried out in May 2004 revealed serum thyroxine
(T4) level of 25.2 pmol/L and TSH 0.03 mU/L, indicating nearly adequate
suppression of TSH.
In June 2004, she was commenced on orlistat by her general
practitioner. Within 2 weeks, she experienced hypothyroid symptoms in
the form of tiredness, lethargy and cold intolerance. Biochemically, she
was found to be profoundly hypothyroid with T4 7 pmol/L and TSH
73.6 mU/L. During this period, the patient’s husband witnessed good
compliance with medication.
The woman was advised to discontinue orlistat, and her thyroxine was
increased to 300 mcu once daily. Within 2 weeks, her symptoms improved.
Repeat blood tests carried out 4 weeks later showed TSH 0.02 mU/L and
T4 31.7 pmol/L.
Causes of inadequate TSH suppression include inadequate thyroxine
dose due to poor patient compliance or reduction to a replacement dose by
the general practitioner. Clear communication of the rationale behind TSH
suppression is therefore essential. In this case, the patient had been
compliant with thyroxine for 18 months as indicated by her previous
biochemistry, and both the patient and her husband were adamant that she
had continued to comply.
Orlistat has been associated with gastrointestinal adverse events,
including diarrhoea, constipation, abdominal pain and flatulence. In
addition, orlistat is known to cause malabsorption of fat soluble vitamins,
hypocalcaemia, and, rarely, other electrolyte disturbances. Thyroid
dysfunction is very rare [4].
Thyroxine has a bioavailability of 40–80% after oral administration. The
extent of thyroxine absorption is increased in the fasting state, and is
influenced by the content of the gastrointestinal tract. Some substances
bind the thyroxine, making it unavailable for diffusion across the gut wall
[5]. It may be that orlistat also binds to the thyroxine and prevents its
absorption from the small intestine.
We believe that this is the first reported case of hypothyroidsm in
a patient taking TSH suppressive dose of both thyroxine and orlistat. It is
clearly important that clinical oncologists, thyroid surgeons, endocrinologists
and general practitioners involved in the follow-up of thyroid cancer
patients are aware of this potential interference of this drug with thyroxine
absorption.
K. MADHAVA
A. HARTLEY
Queen Elizabeth Hospital, Birmingham, UK
References
1 Halnan KE. Thyroid. In: Price P, Sikora K, eds. Treatment of cancer.
London: Chapman and Hall, 1995. p. 367–390.
2 Guidelines for the management of thyroid cancer in adults. British
Thyroid Association, Royal College of Physicians; March 2002.
3 Hollander PA, Elbein SC, Hirsch IB, et al. Role of orlistat in the
treatment of obese patients with type 2 diabetes. A 1-year randomized
controlled study. Diabetes Care 1998;21:1288–1294.
4 Mc Duffie JR, Calis KA, Booth SL, Uwaifo GI, Yanovski JA. Effects of
orlistat on fat soluble vitamins in obese adolescents. Pharmacotherapy
2002;22:814–822.
5 Roberts G. Taking care of thyroxine. Aust Prescr 2004;27:75–76.
doi:10.1016/j.clon.2005.05.002
Hair Growth After Gefitinib Treatment
Sir d We report an interesting case of new hair growth after gefitinib
treatment. A 57-year-old man with androgenic alopecia first presented with
back pain in January 2004. A bone scan showed increased uptake in
the sacrum, and the lumbar spine. A biopsy of the spine confirmed
adenocarcinoma consistent with non-small-cell lung cancer. A computed
Fig. 1 – New hair growth on previous bald vertex.
Clinical Oncology (2005) 17: 492–493
0936-6555/05/000000C02 $35.00/0 2005 The Royal College of Radiologists. Published by Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.
» Thanks debris …could not get my hand on the study…we need to check every
» section of it …
Actually this is the right one and it’s just an observation (nothing scientific in here):
“Sir d We report an interesting case of new hair growth after gefitinib
treatment. A 57-year-old man with androgenic alopecia first presented with
back pain in January 2004. A bone scan showed increased uptake in
the sacrum, and the lumbar spine. A biopsy of the spine confirmed
adenocarcinoma consistent with non-small-cell lung cancer. A computed tomography/positron emission tomography scan confirmed lung cancer in
February 2004. He received fractionated palliative radiotherapy to the
sacrum in February 2004, with good symptomatic response. Subsequently,
he received three cycles of carboplatin and gemcitabine chemotherapy
between March and June 2004. Unfortunately, chemotherapy had to be
discontinued because of toxicity and also new-onset deep venous
thromboembolism, for which he was anticoagulated. He was started on
gefitinib 250 mg daily in July 2004, which he tolerated well.
In August 2004, he was pleasantly surprised by new hair growth in
a previously long-standing bald patch on the vertex of his scalp (Fig. 1).
The hair was of a different colour and texture to his normal hair. In May
2005, he is still on gefitinib and enjoying his new appearance.
Gefitinib, also known as ZD1839, is a new oral epidermal growth factor
receptor tyrosine kinase inhibitor that has been used for lung cancer. It
blocks signal transduction pathways implicated in the survival and
proliferation of tumour cells and other host dependent pathways in
tumourogenesis [1]. Epidermal growth factor receptor is important for
normal skin and hair development and growth [2]. Gefitinib is well known to
be associated with skin rashes, such as acneiform follicular papules and
pustules [3].Acase report has been published on excessive increase in length
of eyelashes and eyebrows in a patient who also had acneiform rashes after
gefitinib [4]. In three monotherapy clinical studies of IRESSA 250 mg/day,
only one patient out of a total of 1331 had mild common toxicity criteria
grade 1 hair disorder [3]. However, no previous report of new hair growth in
a previous bald patch has been described. Therefore, this is an interesting
case illustrating an unusual positive side-effect of a novel anticancer drug.”
But it is relevant that this patient grew this hair cold turkey - no depilation 3 days before, no wounding whatsoever(!), no 5-day wait between injury and the beginning of EGF-R inhibition, no stoppage of the EGF-R inhibition after 7-10 days.
I think if the hair can be grown like this with so many of the factors totally missing . . . good sign. Very good sign, at least for the idea of getting any growth at all.
Another thing that looks good: The hair isn’t white.
For a drug, the density of regrowth is impressive.
I’ve been staring at a bottle of gefitinib for about the past 10 days, not yet having cracked the seal. It seems too good to be true. I’m a believer and a non-believer at the same time. We shall see.
I can’t resist asking where you got it, how much money for how much drug, etc.
Another thing about trying this at home is the prospect of counterfeit drugs. A couple of guys trying Folica’s method with some fake drugs could incorrectly shatter a lot of hope for us for a while.
Just something to think about if we start getting word of amateur attempts at Folica’s method that fail.
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