Theracell - Cell-based hair regeneration

http://theracell.eu/?page_id=2470

Cell-based hair regeneration

Theracell is currently working on the development of a new approach for hair regeneration. This treatment involves the collection of cells found around hair follicles in order to grow them in a lab. This cell-based hair follicle regeneration, is an injectable cell therapy product for hair regeneration through the creation of pre-follicular units, using a specific population of stem cells found in the hair follicle. The procedure is used for the generation of new hair follicles and the activation of existing ones.

The process is as follows:

  1. A small amount of hair follicles (10-20) is collected by the plastic surgeon.
  2. The samples are transferred to our GMP certified laboratories, where a special type of stem cells that reside within the hair follicle are isolated and cultured for several weeks. The purpose of this stage is to end up with a large amount of cells.
  3. After the cell expansion stage, the hair follicle stem cells are grown in a 3-D culture, in order to obtain pre-follicular units.
  4. These pre-follicular units are then injected into the scalp. The scope is to generate new hair follicles and to activate the existing ones.

The main advantage of the therapy is the fact that it is a minimally invasive and virtually painless technique.

The “3D Culture” sounds similar to Angela Christiano’s approach.

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by News[/postedby]
The “3D Culture” sounds similar to Angela Christiano’s approach.[/quote]

And Christiano’s approach does not protect sufficient hair-inductivity so Theracell’s efforts are doomed to fail. Theracell needs to talk with Sanford Burnham scientists and get new technical information from the Sanford Burnham scientists, but unfortunately this is not going to happen. Not anytime soon anyway. I don’t think Sanford Burnham has even completed the patent process for their discovery yet and they certainly are not going to share 100% of their technical information until their market rights are protected so S & B’s technology is about 5 - 7 years down the road.

So we are stuck with hair transplants, minoxidil, propecia, and hoping that growth factors will reverse hair loss. I think it’s time to try AAPE twice per week for 4 months. This is our best bet for the near term.

I agree with you guys.

This sounds like they are going to try Christiano’s same method and hope for a different result.

Interesting that Dr. Christiano, I believe, is a Greek-American (as well as Dr. Cotsarelis) and Theracell is based in Greece. Their method does seem to parallel Dr. Christiano’s recent research and it wouldn’t surprise me if she’s actually involved in this somehow, although she’s not mentioned on the list of staff directors on the site.

well, typing these 4 steps on a web page is easy enough…

we’ve seen at least 5 companies accomplish that much…

next step is to actually do it.

It’s also strange that there’s another company named TheraCell, a US based biotech which is involved in bone grafting. Their website is www.theracellinc.com (which appears to be inactive now), but the company itself seems to be active from what I can see:

http://www.beckersspine.com/orthopedic-a-spine-device-a-implant-news/item/25578-theracell-appoints-dr-gunnar-andersson-as-director-5-key-notes.html

It appears that this TheraCell is unrelated to the one in Greece.

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Well, I guess we can assume it doesn’t work then. Because, if it did, the main advantage would be it’s the only treatment in the world that can restore a full head of hair. That’s a billion time more important than pain.

[quote][postedby]Originally Posted by James Bond[/postedby]
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Well, I guess we can assume it doesn’t work then. Because, if it did, the main advantage would be it’s the only treatment in the world that can restore a full head of hair. That’s a billion time more important than pain.[/quote]

Yeah after realizing there is essentially only 65 patents on hair, I’ve lost all hope. There is literally nobody looking into this… less maybe 15 people world wide…