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http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/BU4IVBIV2.DTL&tsp=1
Washenik said he once predicted a treatment would be ready in five years. “But at this point I think it’s better not to make an estimate because I’m really not sure,” he said.
» http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/BU4IVBIV2.DTL&tsp=1
»
» Washenik said he once predicted a treatment would be ready in five years.
» “But at this point I think it’s better not to make an estimate because I’m
» really not sure,” he said.
That was actually a well-researched article - much more informed than the average “minoxodil and finasteride” rehash that most reporters go for. I wonder what that Pfizer drug is that they were referring to?
Good find, HairKing. This is indeed an interesting comment by Washenik. Keep in mind they’ve been in Phase I trials for 1 1/2 years so far! What have they found, if anything…?
» Washenik said he once predicted a treatment would be ready in five years.
» “But at this point I think it’s better not to make an estimate because I’m
» really not sure,” he said.
…Distilled to its essence…
"A pilot study in humans is planned within a few months using a strategy outlined in May by Dr. George Cotsarelis, a University of Pennsylvania dermatology professor who discovered that mice healing from wounds could produce hair follicles. Cotsarelis theorized that the healing process created a window of time when new skin structures could form.
The Boston company he co-founded, Follica Inc., is trying to duplicate the regenerative environment of wound healing in humans by using a modified form of microdermabrasion, a form of skin treatment that grinds off dead surface skin cells and encourages repair by deeper cells.
Along with that mild injury to the scalp, Follica applies drugs to promote the growth of new follicles.
If new follicles form on top of a bald scalp, will they have the decadeslong lifespan of a baby’s follicles, or will they quickly succumb to the male hormones that caused the baldness in the first place? That’s a question raised by Chris Ehrlich, a partner in the Menlo Park VC firm InterWest Partners, which has helped fund Follica.
“We view it as a very early, very high-risk project,” Ehrlich said. “But if it works, it would be great.”
"…In another approach, company scientists at Atlanta’s Aderans Research Institute are taking certain key cells from the scalp and trying to multiply their numbers by growing them in culture. Two cell types were chosen because they exchange chemical signals that foster follicle formation. If the method works, the propagated cells could be injected into the scalp as “hair seeds” to create new follicles.
Wigmaker does research
The tactic is often called “hair cloning,” but no hairs or follicles are produced in the culturing step, said Aderans executive Dr. Ken Washenik. The research is a project of Aderans Co. Ltd, the world’s largest wigmaker, and its affiliate Bosley, a major hair transplant company.
Other companies are trying variations of this method. Washenik said he once predicted a treatment would be ready in five years. “But at this point I think it’s better not to make an estimate because I’m really not sure,” he said."
BTW----------------On the “other two” things mentioned in the article, Phfizer and Androscience---- Androscience’s topical would be the strongest anti-androgen out there becuase topical curcumin was also a very strong inhibitor of alpha five reductase in experiments with hamster flank organs, as strong as Gamma linolenic acid is, BUT it will stain your scalp very yellow and make an unbelievable mess. Andro has found a way to extract the component in curcumin that has the anti-androgenic effect of degrading the human androgen receptor and blocking alpha five reductase, making it sort of like having topical RU58841 while being on Dutasteride at the same time. It would save the hair that you had, but it wouldn’t grow much back. It would be a “cure” for young men though who hadn’t started losing it yet. They could buy it and never go bald.
This is also something we are up against if you have lost some of your hair and want it back. As the years pass and things like Androscience are introduced, the market for Cloning and de noveau hair growth will get smaller and smaller, especially when baby boomers start dying off. So I want a cure sooner rather than later or the seed money really might not be there like it is now to hit a shrinking market at that point in the future.
BTW----Im glad Ken Washenik isn’t making over-optimistic predictions and getting everyone’s hopes up anymore. He is the reason so many of us are so utterly dissapointed in this technology so far and why so many have quit the board in the past. He was saying five years back in 2002 and before…as in five years until it would be on the market and being sold. Obviously he was at least several years off. Aderans must be kinda stuck in their research in my opinion as one sees nothing new on their website to indicate success at all…I’d like to be wrong about that, but if they had something good to show investors even privately, you’d think it would have filtered out by now.
» http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?f=/c/a/2008/03/07/BU4IVBIV2.DTL&tsp=1
»
» Washenik said he once predicted a treatment would be ready in five years.
» “But at this point I think it’s better not to make an estimate because I’m
» really not sure,” he said.
Thanks for the article. Your title is a bit misleading as i don’t see any update from Washenik ? I think i remember the comment he made, and he made it like three to four years ago … Still hm seems far away.
He wont make a prediction now…which AINT good news for Aderans HM procedure for those of you keeping score at home. It sure as hell doesn’t sound as confident as ICX or Follica
what he (Washenik) said was “Its better not to make an estimate because Im really not sure” concerning a timetable for HM.
» what he (Washenik) said was “Its better not to make an estimate because Im
» really not sure” concerning a timetable for HM.
yes but i think he made this statement years ago. Maybe he’s not sure when his hm could possibly hit the market, however his last estimate is end 2009 as far as i know
“Washenik said he once predicted a treatment would be ready in five years. “But at this point I think it’s better not to make an estimate because I’m really not sure,” he said.”
Thats what was in the SF-Chronicle article RECENTLY. The story was titled March 7, 2008.
.
Biotech turns to hair-loss research
Bernadette Tansey, Chronicle Staff Writer
Friday, March 7, 2008
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Biotechnology has introduced many wonders to the world. New drugs to treat deadly diseases. Microbes that digest oil spills. Fluorescent fish. Remarkable inventions all.
But what has biotech ever done for bald people?
Some may feel sheepish raising the question, given the weightier problems needing a scientific fix. Hair loss is not a life-threatening condition, concedes Kaiser Permanente dermatologist Paradi Mirmirani. But half the population, both male and female, see their locks thinning by age 50 - and many can’t take the loss lightly, Mirmirani said.
“I have tearful patients in my office many times a day,” she said. “When they lose their hair, they feel like they’ve lost their identity.”
That passionate attachment is helping to speed research on new treatments because investors see a potential gold mine in the field. Most health plans don’t reimburse for anti-balding drugs or transplants, but many people will pay out of their own pockets even if the cost is a bit hair-raising.
Industry sources estimate that Americans spend more than $1 billion a year on approved drugs for hair loss and hair transplants.
That explains why a small but determined bunch of companies and academics are mining the hair shaft for clues to the molecular mechanisms of balding. They’re throwing an arsenal of high-tech tools at the condition: genome studies, stem cell stimulation, gene therapy, a type of tissue engineering often called “hair cloning” and even robotics.
The chance of much better treatments in time for your high school reunion? A big maybe.
Much is still unknown about the phenomenon of balding, a trait that only humans and some monkeys share, said Stanford University Professor Anthony Oro. It’s not even clear why humans, over the course of evolution, shed most of their thicker body hair but kept a crop on the head.
For a minority of balding people, episodes of hair loss stem from diseases such as skin infections and immune system disorders, or stresses such as surgery and childbirth. Treatments for such hair loss are often geared to fix the underlying cause.
But by far the most common type of hair loss is the slow, inexorable thinning of the locks on a timetable set by genes inherited from the father or mother.
Certain genes make the top of the scalp more vulnerable to a male hormone, dihydrotestosterone or DHT, that shuts down follicles so they don’t produce new hairs. The result is male-pattern baldness, which starts with a receding hairline and bald spot. The same interplay of male hormones and heredity can cause a general thinning of hair in women.
Only two drugs are approved by the Food and Drug Administration to treat common baldness - Merck’s Propecia and Johnson & Johnson’s Rogaine (and its generic equivalent, minoxidil).
Propecia, a pill usually prescribed only for men, blocks production of DHT. The mechanism is not fully understood for Rogaine, an over-the-counter solution that is applied to the scalp.
Both drugs can promote regrowth or slow the rate of hair loss for some people, to some extent. But there’s plenty of room for improvement.
Multibillion-dollar market
“There is clearly a great need for more treatments for hair growth,” said Dr. Vera Price, a UCSF dermatology professor who heads the medical center’s hair research center. “Pharmas, the biotech industry, venture capitalists are aware of this huge consumer need and the fact that it represents a multibillion-dollar market.”
Pfizer Inc. of New York is working on an experimental drug that works the same way as Rogaine, as well as another compound that mimics the effect of thyroid hormones.
Among the small biotech companies attacking the problem is AndroScience Corp. of San Diego, which is developing a drug that degrades the cell receptors for DHT. Drugs for balding, however, usually work only on follicles that are still active.
The alternative is transplants. A Mountain View startup, Restoration Robotics, is developing automated equipment to help surgeons perform hair transplants faster, and possibly cheaper.
Hair-transplant surgeons take follicles from the back and sides of the head, which seem immune to the balding effects of male hormones, and move them to the crown. The success of transplants has always been limited, however, by the finite amount of hair a patient still has left to move around.
Reviving follicles
For those hoping for a new technology that will carpet a bald scalp like Astroturf, the best shot may come from a small group of companies that are trying to cultivate new follicles like seedlings. Experiments are challenging the long-held notion that new follicles are never formed in humans and that follicles can never be revived once they become inactive.
A pilot study in humans is planned within a few months using a strategy outlined in May by Dr. George Cotsarelis, a University of Pennsylvania dermatology professor who discovered that mice healing from wounds could produce hair follicles. Cotsarelis theorized that the healing process created a window of time when new skin structures could form.
The Boston company he co-founded, Follica Inc., is trying to duplicate the regenerative environment of wound healing in humans by using a modified form of microdermabrasion, a form of skin treatment that grinds off dead surface skin cells and encourages repair by deeper cells.
Along with that mild injury to the scalp, Follica applies drugs to promote the growth of new follicles.
If new follicles form on top of a bald scalp, will they have the decadeslong lifespan of a baby’s follicles, or will they quickly succumb to the male hormones that caused the baldness in the first place? That’s a question raised by Chris Ehrlich, a partner in the Menlo Park VC firm InterWest Partners, which has helped fund Follica.
“We view it as a very early, very high-risk project,” Ehrlich said. “But if it works, it would be great.”
In another approach, company scientists at Atlanta’s Aderans Research Institute are taking certain key cells from the scalp and trying to multiply their numbers by growing them in culture. Two cell types were chosen because they exchange chemical signals that foster follicle formation. If the method works, the propagated cells could be injected into the scalp as “hair seeds” to create new follicles.
Wigmaker does research
The tactic is often called “hair cloning,” but no hairs or follicles are produced in the culturing step, said Aderans executive Dr. Ken Washenik. The research is a project of Aderans Co. Ltd, the world’s largest wigmaker, and its affiliate Bosley, a major hair transplant company.
Other companies are trying variations of this method. Washenik said he once predicted a treatment would be ready in five years. “But at this point I think it’s better not to make an estimate because I’m really not sure,” he said.
Oro, who studies hair stem cells at Stanford, said work on the regeneration of the follicle mini-organs could some day yield health benefits that go beyond defeating hair loss.
The scalp provides an accessible means of studying the role of stem cells in the regeneration of an organ. And many organs use the same similar chemical growth signals as follicles, he said.
“If we understood how to regrow hair, it would help us understand how to regenerate the liver, the pancreas and other organs,” Oro said.
New approaches to baldness
Drugs: Companies including Pfizer of New York and AndroScience of San Diego are working on experimental drugs that would promote regrowth of hair and slow down hair thinning.
Tissue engineering: Aderans Corp. in Japan and other companies are trying to multiply key cells that could seed the regrowth of follicles on a bald scalp.
Hair through healing: Follica Inc. of Boston is hoping the process by which the body heals skin wounds can also give rise to new follicles.
Source: Chronicle research
E-mail Bernadette Tansey at btansey@sfchronicle.com.
This article appeared on page C - 1 of the San Francisco Chronicle
» » what he (Washenik) said was “Its better not to make an estimate because
» Im
» » really not sure” concerning a timetable for HM.
»
» yes but i think he made this statement years ago. Maybe he’s not sure when
» his hm could possibly hit the market, however his last estimate is end 2009
» as far as i know
Washneik got way more publicity then Kemp…compared to Intercytex their research and trials are lagging far behind. I wasn’t expecting a cure from him at all - to be honest!
» » » what he (Washenik) said was “Its better not to make an estimate
» because
» » Im
» » » really not sure” concerning a timetable for HM.
» »
» » yes but i think he made this statement years ago. Maybe he’s not sure
» when
» » his hm could possibly hit the market, however his last estimate is end
» 2009
» » as far as i know
»
» Washneik got way more publicity then Kemp…compared to Intercytex their
» research and trials are lagging far behind. I wasn’t expecting a cure from
» him at all - to be honest!
Yes i don’t expect nothing too by aderans… they are now in the phase 1, when icx have started this in 2001… they are in medieval time… 
»
» This is also something we are up against if you have lost some of your
» hair and want it back. As the years pass and things like Androscience are
» introduced, the market for Cloning and de noveau hair growth will get
» smaller and smaller, especially when baby boomers start dying off. So I
» want a cure sooner rather than later or the seed money really might not be
» there like it is now to hit a shrinking market at that point in the
» future.
»
Excellent point
benji:
This is also something we are up against if you have lost some of your hair and want it back. As the years pass and things like Androscience are introduced, the market for Cloning and de noveau hair growth will get smaller and smaller, especially when baby boomers start dying off. So I want a cure sooner rather than later or the seed money really might not be there like it is now to hit a shrinking market at that point in the future.
Not necessarily. Keep in mind that 99% of the public (doctors included) know very little about hairloss. Moreso, people like to put things off until it’s too late to take reasonable/ preventative counter-measures (i.e. People don’t diet until they find out they have high cholesterol. People don’t exercise until their first heart attack, People won’t take a hairloss prevention drug until they lost a noticeable amount of hair volume. It’s in our nature to put things off until it’s too late.
I won’t dispute that baby boomers provide a vital cash incentive. They are the current driving force behind these biotech firms, but I don’t see a demise to the research stream with the demise of their market segment (pardon my pun). Most young people (the future HM market) think they’re invincible until something goes wrong. Their negligence today will pave the way for future HM research.
.
» “Washenik said he once predicted a treatment would be ready in five years.
» “But at this point I think it’s better not to make an estimate because I’m
» really not sure,” he said.”
»
»
» Thats what was in the SF-Chronicle article RECENTLY. The story was titled
» March 7, 2008.
yes, i know the article is very recent. However, i think the journalist relates to a quote Washenik made years ago. I could be mistaken, but i understood it like this? Altough hm probably wont be here in 2009/2010, i don’t see why Washenik would correct his prediction from “possibly end 2009” to “in five years, but better not make an estimate right now” … if so this would be scaring 
» » “Washenik said he once predicted a treatment would be ready in five
» years.
» » “But at this point I think it’s better not to make an estimate because
» I’m
» » really not sure,” he said.”
» »
» »
» » Thats what was in the SF-Chronicle article RECENTLY. The story was
» titled
» » March 7, 2008.
»
» yes, i know the article is very recent. However, i think the journalist
» relates to a quote Washenik made years ago. I could be mistaken, but i
» understood it like this? Altough hm probably wont be here in 2009/2010, i
» don’t see why Washenik would correct his prediction from “possibly end
» 2009” to “in five years, but better not make an estimate right now” … if
» so this would be scaring
Scaring for what?
Aderans have published nothing respect ICX about Hm, they are still in phase1. Icx is 5 years forward, they have a lot of patents, contract with other company for the robot and for the transport of biological cells, different approach and other things that make me sure that at the icx the work on hm is better… so wait the 18 march… but for the phrases of washenik i’m not scared…
( sigh). . .
There is a very, VERY simple way to hold onto a realistic view of the HM timelines no matter what is said by the doctors:
Take whatever date when clinical trials are first begun for something, and then add about 10 years onto it (assuming there are no major unforeseen setbacks along the way)!!!
It’s simple! It’s accurate! The medical world’s track record totally bears this formula out!
Ignore everything that is said to the contrary, no matter how legit the person’s credientials may be, and just think this way. You will almost never end up too disappointed or uninformed.
ICX started phase I in 2005 then 2005 + 10 = 2015 as I always said. This won’t make people happy but that’s the reality my buddies…
» ICX started phase I in 2005 then 2005 + 10 = 2015 as I always said. This
» won’t make people happy but that’s the reality my buddies…
http://www.intercytex.com/icx/products/pipeline/
look at that chart, It is very possible that TRC could go the same way as Vavelta! the mystical “10” year rule doesn’t always apply for every treatment and every country!
» » ICX started phase I in 2005 then 2005 + 10 = 2015 as I always said. This
» » won’t make people happy but that’s the reality my buddies…
»
» http://www.intercytex.com/icx/products/pipeline/
»
» look at that chart, It is very possible that TRC could go the same way as
» Vavelta! the mystical “10” year rule doesn’t always apply for every
» treatment and every country!
That’s the most important question. How can they introduce Vavelta without going throuugh phase 3.
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