Drop HM, Pick up Drugs?

Stem cell; cell based hair therapy
1

Just thinking aloud, I know we speak of quite a few players in the HM arena, but are there any companies working on drugs that will work way better than finasteride and/or minoxidil?

Seems like it’s a super tough battle figuring out HM, maybe it’s a tad bit easier to figure out a drug(s) to regrow hairs and halt hairloss?

2

» Just thinking aloud, I know we speak of quite a few players in the HM
» arena, but are there any companies working on drugs that will work way
» better than finasteride and/or minoxidil?
»
» Seems like it’s a super tough battle figuring out HM, maybe it’s a tad bit
» easier to figure out a drug(s) to regrow hairs and halt hairloss?

the other way of looking at this is that hair loss is a cellular aging process or even more likely it is a cellular differentiation process. There is not a single treatment that can change or reverse cellular aging and not a single drug that alters terminal / end point differentiation. There is some chatter as usual around this but to me HM seems more likely albeit unlikely.

A Stem cells may replace or repair tissue but that is a long way from changing the path of cell differentiation in a backward AND STABLE direction (on the basis that cancer is not a stable reversal of differentiation. A teratoma might produce hairs denovo but I don’t think they would be usable in a reasonable way).

3

» » Just thinking aloud, I know we speak of quite a few players in the HM
» » arena, but are there any companies working on drugs that will work way
» » better than finasteride and/or minoxidil?
» »
» » Seems like it’s a super tough battle figuring out HM, maybe it’s a tad
» bit
» » easier to figure out a drug(s) to regrow hairs and halt hairloss?
»
» the other way of looking at this is that hair loss is a cellular aging
» process or even more likely it is a cellular differentiation process. There
» is not a single treatment that can change or reverse cellular aging and not
» a single drug that alters terminal / end point differentiation. There is
» some chatter as usual around this but to me HM seems more likely albeit
» unlikely.
»
» A Stem cells may replace or repair tissue but that is a long way from
» changing the path of cell differentiation in a backward AND STABLE
» direction (on the basis that cancer is not a stable reversal of
» differentiation. A teratoma might produce hairs denovo but I don’t think
» they would be usable in a reasonable way).

Hey Marco- I just want to say first off, I value your contribution to this site. But I would just like to know your opinion of Histogen and the science behind it.

4

»
»
» Hey Marco- I just want to say first off, I value your contribution to this
» site. But I would just like to know your opinion of Histogen and the
» science behind it.

Here is a bit of a rant:

If I were to make a truly valued judgment then I would have to take a very deep dive into wnt and all the evidence + a full inter species proteomic study, expression sequence analysis, tempero spacial analysis of hair differentiation events etc etc (probably to the extent that many at histogen have not done). If I did all of that then maybe I could shorten the odds of making a call just a little. I will not pretend to have done that or that it could be done and I have heard enough scientist championing their ideas cherry picking the evidence to support them.

Science is often not as intelligent process as people would like. one could take a few highly intelligent scientist (with limited resources) and ask them to find a the best solutions to a problem or use the hundreds of thousands of scientist and institutions to come up with as many theories that have some backing and test them all. The answers then just become evidence based. ie forget the deepest science, just find out which one worked. Biochemistry and physiology is now so complex that the later is often actually more efficient (if the money is there to do this).

The point is that we just have to see what comes out and it is impossible to second guess.

A couple of comments:
wnt was original linked to the hair differentiation pathway in mice, i believe, which is not promising based on other rodent work.
Would I try it: yes
would I invest in the company rather than have a hair transplant:…NO

I know i haven’t really answered your question.

5

» »
» »
» » Hey Marco- I just want to say first off, I value your contribution to
» this
» » site. But I would just like to know your opinion of Histogen and the
» » science behind it.
»
» Here is a bit of a rant:
»
» If I were to make a truly valued judgment then I would have to take a very
» deep dive into wnt and all the evidence + a full inter species proteomic
» study, expression sequence analysis, tempero spacial analysis of hair
» differentiation events etc etc (probably to the extent that many at
» histogen have not done). If I did all of that then maybe I could shorten
» the odds of making a call just a little. I will not pretend to have done
» that or that it could be done and I have heard enough scientist championing
» their ideas cherry picking the evidence to support them.
»
» Science is often not as intelligent process as people would like. one
» could take a few highly intelligent scientist (with limited resources) and
» ask them to find a the best solutions to a problem or use the hundreds of
» thousands of scientist and institutions to come up with as many theories
» that have some backing and test them all. The answers then just become
» evidence based. ie forget the deepest science, just find out which one
» worked. Biochemistry and physiology is now so complex that the later is
» often actually more efficient (if the money is there to do this).
»
» The point is that we just have to see what comes out and it is impossible
» to second guess.
»
» A couple of comments:
» wnt was original linked to the hair differentiation pathway in mice, i
» believe, which is not promising based on other rodent work.
» Would I try it: yes
» would I invest in the company rather than have a hair transplant:…NO
»
» I know i haven’t really answered your question.

Sure you did. I get the feeling that you believe the science behind wnt pathways is a way off from fully being implemented into a viable protocol. I appreciate your input.