The following from PRNewswire
Follica Developing Breakthrough Discovery to Treat Hair Loss, Wounds and Other Degenerative Skin Disorders
BOSTON, May 16 /PRNewswire/ – Technology licensed by Follica Inc. from
the University of Pennsylvania School of Medicine has been used to generate
completely new hair follicles for the first time in normal adult mammals.
The paper describing the experiment was published in the May 17th issue of
the scientific journal Nature.
(Photo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070516/NEW086-a)
(Logo: http://www.newscom.com/cgi-bin/prnh/20070516/NEW086LOGO-b)
By studying wound healing on a molecular level, Dr. George Cotsarelis
and colleagues discovered that the skin has the ability to revert to a more
primitive or “embryonic” state as stem cells migrate to the affected area,
thereby achieving a regenerative capacity not previously appreciated to
occur in adults.
The researchers were able to control the regenerative response,
including the extent of new hair follicle formation, by manipulating
genetic pathways during this “embryonic window” when new follicles formed.
The new hair follicles functioned normally, cycled through the normal
stages of hair growth and exhibited normal architecture, including a full
complement of stem cells. Cotsarelis and colleagues showed that the
induction of this primitive state triggered corresponding embryonic
molecular pathways distinct from those active in corresponding cells in
adult skin, opening up new treatment options not previously thought to have
therapeutic benefit in normal adult skin.
“The ‘embryonic window’ gives us the opportunity to develop disease
treatments that act in entirely novel ways,” said Daphne Zohar, PureTech
Ventures founding managing partner and Follica CEO. “The clinical
translation of this technique involves straightforward, safe dermatological
procedures, and we are studying the impact of multiple drugs and drug-like
compounds on this regenerative response as we advance in preclinical
testing.”
“This is an extremely exciting discovery and shows promise for
treatment of follicular disorders such as hair loss and unwanted excess
hair,” noted Dr. Vera Price, co-founder of the National Alopecia Areata
Foundation, director of the University of California, San Francisco (UCSF)
Hair Research Center and a founding scientific advisory board member of
Follica Inc.
“The hair follicle is an elegant structure that plays many different
roles for human skin, aside from growing hair,” said Dr. Rox Anderson,
Professor of Dermatology at Harvard Medical School, Director of the Wellman
Center for Photomedicine at Massachusetts General Hospital, and founding
chairman of Follica’s scientific advisory board. “George Cotsarelis’
insights into the biology of hair follicles provide new strategies for
preventing and treating a variety of skin and hair disorders.”
Follica exclusively licensed the technology from The University of
Pennsylvania School of Medicine where it is the basis of an ongoing
development program. The paper’s lead author, Dr. Cotsarelis, is also a co-
founder and scientific advisory board member of Follica
Every year or so, there’s another announcement from Dr. Cotsarelis about how he’s working on some way to genetically or biochemically induce new follicles in the skin from their “embryonic” stages.
In theory, this is certainly doable.
In practice, it’s much more complicated than simple HM (i.e., cell therapy) because it seeks to regenerate follicles using the most fundamental biological pathways imaginable – genetic expression leading to embryological development. HM is far superior to this, because HM is a “short cut” that simply uses existing cells to induce the production of new cells, at another location. In other words, HM is the key that gets you in the “side door” and accomplishes “the real deal” with a lot less understanding of the fundamental science, and a lot less headache about tampering with fundamental, basic processes of the body. What Cotsarelis is trying to find the keys to the “front door” – he wants a scientifically “elegant” solution that, by definition, will understand the entire workings of how a hair follicle is produced, embryonically, and reproduces that.
This work by Cotsarelis, since it involves fundamental science and massive tampering with the body’s genetic and biomolecular mechanisms, will take far longer than HM to get approved by the FDA… because it could be far riskier to a patient’s health.
Why try to recreate the keys to the front door of hair regeneration when HM gets you through the side-door, just by using prepackaged cells with all the necessary biomolecular signaling information already built-in?
The reason is that this is an ACADEMIC EXERCISE for Cotsarelis. They are trying to build a company out of understanding 100% of the fundamental science, while HM takes the easier, and more practical approach, showing you don’t really have to understand 100% of the fundamental science to get new hair to grow.
Although this will probably ultimately be able to produce more reliable and better new hair than HM, we are looking at something which is in practical terms far in the future. There is no way this would be approved by the FDA less than 5 years after HM is approved, in any case.
» My observations about this:
»
» 1. Every year or so, there’s another announcement from Dr. Cotsarelis
» about how he’s working on some way to genetically or biochemically induce
» new follicles in the skin from their “embryonic” stages.
»
» 2. In theory, this is certainly doable.
»
» 3. In practice, it’s much more complicated than simple HM (i.e., cell
» therapy) because it seeks to regenerate follicles using the most
» fundamental biological pathways imaginable – genetic expression leading
» to embryological development. HM is far superior to this, because HM is
» a “short cut” that simply uses existing cells to induce the production of
» new cells, at another location. In other words, HM is the key that gets
» you in the “side door” and accomplishes “the real deal” with a lot less
» understanding of the fundamental science, and a lot less headache about
» tampering with fundamental, basic processes of the body. What Cotsarelis
» is trying to find the keys to the “front door” – he wants a scientifically
» “elegant” solution that, by definition, will understand the entire workings
» of how a hair follicle is produced, embryonically, and reproduces that.
»
» 4. This work by Cotsarelis, since it involves fundamental science and
» massive tampering with the body’s genetic and biomolecular mechanisms,
» will take far longer than HM to get approved by the FDA… because it
» could be far riskier to a patient’s health.
»
» 5. Why try to recreate the keys to the front door of hair regeneration
» when HM gets you through the side-door, just by using prepackaged cells
» with all the necessary biomolecular signaling information already
» built-in?
»
» 6. The reason is that this is an ACADEMIC EXERCISE for Cotsarelis. They
» are trying to build a company out of understanding 100% of the fundamental
» science, while HM takes the easier, and more practical approach, showing
» you don’t really have to understand 100% of the fundamental science to get
» new hair to grow.
»
» 7. Although this will probably ultimately be able to produce more
» reliable and better new hair than HM, we are looking at something which is
» in practical terms far in the future. There is no way this would be
» approved by the FDA less than 5 years after HM is approved, in any case.
»
» That’s my take…
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