This is in response to X-Prize thread. Willy, I find your idea interesting but offering an award won’t get much attention, it would only make bald men look really desperate!
Instead if we start a for-profit Consortium that first raises money from people (obviously bald) and then invests it in various treatments i.e. by hiring scientists, funding research, doing own trials on volunteers (no shortage of that either) etc, it would be a much better approach.
Here is why I thnk that:
i) Raising money would be easy, since we would have a trusted public company working for bald people with only one goal on its manifesto!
ii) Even if we get 100,000 bald men to donate $1,000…we would have $100 million in liquid cash at startup. Obviously, there are many rich bald men out there who wouldn’t mind donating even more!
iii) Another big advantage is that if TRC works out, then our Consortium would have enough cash to either partner or acquire TRC technology…instead of relying on bosley etc.
iv) We can hire scientists and fund research to really speed up the trials. The way they are doing it right now is really slow and tedious.
v) All trail results would be public, so everyone would be on the same page as to the status of hairloss cure. No mind games like Aderans & Intercytex are doing!
The current hairloss research is seriously limited by lack of funding and dedication. If we get serious about this stuff we can raise enough money and get rid of this disease once and for all!
you want 100.000 persons to donate 1.000 $? wow, you re dreaming. do you know how much advertising you have to do to get so much money together? its not that easy like you think…
I am visiting hairsite.com since 1998 … and I have always hoped, that hairloss sufferers get organized in order to support and accelerate research. (If you search the hairsite forum archives you will find several postings of me.) In 2000 I founded the “Initiative for the advancement of hair gene research” (Untitled) and in 2004 I tried to initiate a small donation project called Project HAIR (Hope for Alopecia Regeneration http://www.aktion-haar.com/index_e.htm). Our biggest success happened in 2000, when we convinced the US millionaire Mr. Steve Kirsch to support hair research (Kirsch Foundation 2000 Grants Awarded). But it has been extremely difficult to find and convince other wealthy donators or investors to support hair regeneration research. And it seems to be even more difficult to collect small donations without founding an official organization (unfortunately Project HAIR has never been successful). So an official organization (non-profit or for-profit) is obviously a necessary basis in order to be successful. But this dream of an official organization can only be realized, if there is a visionary and serious leader, who is brave enough to reveal his real identity to the public.
So my first question for you (goata007 or Willy) is: could you imagine to reveal your identity to the public in connection with hair research? If not, you will have to find another person, who could imagine to do that. If there isn´t such a person, all other reflections will be useless.
» you want 100.000 persons to donate 1.000 $? wow, you re dreaming. do you
» know how much advertising you have to do to get so much money together?
» its not that easy like you think…
Feel free to keep coming to this board for the next 10-20 years of your life during which everyone will call you bipolar and companies like Intercytex will f**k around with your dreams!
We only need to create media buzz…the media will advertise our cause “OMG these bald people are raising millions for baldness while people are dying of cancer, aids, …bla bla bla”
Actually thats what I had in mind, to establish a real organization with real people working towards a real cure. There is no way people are going to donate money to some shady website, so we definitely need a real presence.
As of real people, we can start with obvious ones Bryan Shelton & Michael Barry…these guys have solid reputation among hairloss community. I don’t see why they would mind getting onto the board of directors to actually further the cause they spend so many hours every week for!
The biggest problem that I see with offering a prize is lack of available funding for researchers. The reason why companies run into troubles is lack of funding for trials. Offering an X-Prize would no doubt get a lot of people motivated…but they still won’t have any funding to prove that the treatment works on actual people i.e. by doing trials.
By offering research grants, milestone payments coupled with licensing & timely trial update agreements mean that the companies like Intercytex, Follica get the required funding on time and that they also provide us with timely updates as of the trial status. So our community isn’t left in the dark wondering what the hell is going on!
Another advantage is obviously securing technology. Consortium can secure a potential technology ensuring it doesn’t get licensed by some pharmaceutical company etc and get shelfed, or sold to bald people at a very high price.
Also, as I mentioned earlier in my reply to helpme007. We just need to leak the news out to few news agences and it WILL get airtime. Simply because bald men have decided to raise millions for baldness while people are dying of food, diseases etc etc…all the news channels will definitely try to make us look desperate and such, but this will get the attention of other bald men = more donations!
If you are really looking to get money, you probably will need to couch it in finding a hairloss solution for women and children and cancer patients. People have sympathy for those situations. But if you are a male losing your hair because of bad DNA, then that is to be ridiculed. Doesn’t make much sense, but it is reality.
The research could still focus on a MPB cure, it would just need to deemphasize that portion for the general population to take it seriously.
I strongly agree with goata007: A prize for hair regeneration research won´t solve the real problem: money for the researchers. There are a lot of talented hairloss researchers all over the world. But most of them have one problem: not enough money to guarantee the fastest possible research progress. Big pharma has never invested in hair research - Rogaine and Propecia were discovered as a side-effect of other indications! Pfizer was the only company with signficant financial resources, but obviously they have also stopped their dermatology program recently. Until 5 years ago there wasn´t even a biotech company for hair research. And now? Four companies worldwide (Intercytex, Aderans, Neosil and Phoenix Biotech) for hair regeneration research?!? As you probably know 90% of new drugs fail during clinical trials. So only four advanced research programs worldwide isn´t much! There are dozens of clinical trials for nearly every other disease worldwide (even some hundred for cancer). And there are also a lot more good ideas for hair research. Hair research has arrived at a critical point. There are much more hair related publications now than 5 years ago (please search e.g. pubmed). But still progress happens slow. Even famous hair researchers like Dr. Christiano and Dr. Cotsarelis have looked for research funding and donations for many years. Money is a real problem for hair research and an X prize won´t solve this problem. So a consortium, a cooperation or something like that is much better than an additional X prize.
Best wishes
Andreas
First of all you have to decide, if this project should be non-profit or for-profit.
If you want to found a non-profit organization, you will need at least five people in one country (at least this is the requirement in Germany, probably similar in the USA). These five (or more) people will have to meet regularly. There has to be one person responsible for the financial situation, who will be controlled by the other board members and the local authorities.
But once again: You will have to reveal your identity to the public. Could you imagine to do that, goata007 and Willy (Bill)?
Hi everyone
I just registered after discovering this forum while looking for information on Intercytex. I’d just like to say that I think that what you propose is a great idea. Just a thought but why not base the company somewhere in Asia or Eastern Europe? these destinations have become popular for medical treatments as it can cost a fraction of similar treatments in Western Europe or America. I don’t know about regulations etc but I’d guess it would be possible to develop a treatment in a location with very low overheads and very little regulation. The money would go much much further there and the process could be speeded up no end. People regularly go to China now for example to get cancer treatments which work but have not been through the stringent FDA process. Personally if a treatment worked I would go to the Moon to get it and wouldn’t care less about the FDA’s opinion! I imagine many feel the same way.
I’m really surprised about lack of interest from people on this board too. Even the page views for this thread a low…almost like people aren’t interested to even look at the page.
Anyway, If we are to do this we should definitely go for the for-profit organization - so if we acquire any viable technology we can raise enough money to fund further research into hairloss etc.
azriphale76, I understand your point but what we are trying to do is raise money for current researchers. We are not planning on doing any in-house research/trials so opening the consortium in E.Europe or Asia wouldn’t make much difference. Infact, establishing it in US will ensure trust with donators since we plan to raise millions of dollars!
Some of the points that I had in mind for this Consoritum:
The goal of the Consortium would be to raise money and fund research to speed up the process. Once we have a viable technology we plan to license it and make it available to general public at affordable price.
We would only fund researchers in US, Europe with proven credibility and good record. Part of the funding agreement would be to provide us with timely trial/technology updates and first option to license technology.
Hair loss conferences would be a good place to spread the word about this consortium.
Donations would only be accepted online and it would go into a public database, so people can look up/confirm their donation amount.
We definitely need 5-10 reputable board members to serve on board of directors who are willing to reveal their identity to the public and take LEGAL responsibility for managing the consortium.
Donators would have the option to receive priority right to get into trials or get treatment. The priority would be based on how much a person donates. If the person desires, his/her name would be made public on the waiting list(website) so other people know who is in line first.
Remember: 100,000 * $1,000 = $100,000,000 - We don’t need to advertise just let other bald men know and ask for whatever they can contribute. We can raise millions easily!
IMPORTANT: If other board members have read this and like the idea PLEASE repy to the this thread…so we know that people find this somewhat interesting or we are just wasting time.
» I’m really surprised about lack of interest from people on this board too.
» Even the page views for this thread a low…almost like people aren’t
» interested to even look at the page.
»
» Anyway, If we are to do this we should definitely go for the for-profit
» organization - so if we acquire any viable technology we can raise enough
» money to fund further research into hairloss etc.
»
» azriphale76, I understand your point but what we are trying to do is raise
» money for current researchers. We are not planning on doing any in-house
» research/trials so opening the consortium in E.Europe or Asia wouldn’t
» make much difference. Infact, establishing it in US will ensure trust with
» donators since we plan to raise millions of dollars!
»
»
» Some of the points that I had in mind for this Consoritum:
»
» - The goal of the Consortium would be to raise money and fund research to
» speed up the process. Once we have a viable technology we plan to license
» it and make it available to general public at affordable price.
Who should be choosen as the board members?
»
» - We would only fund researchers in US, Europe with proven credibility and
» good record. Part of the funding agreement would be to provide us with
» timely trial/technology updates and first option to license technology.
»
» - Hair loss conferences would be a good place to spread the word about
» this consortium.
»
» - Donations would only be accepted online and it would go into a public
» database, so people can look up/confirm their donation amount.
»
» - We definitely need 5-10 reputable board members to serve on board of
» directors who are willing to reveal their identity to the public and take
» LEGAL responsibility for managing the consortium.
»
» - Donators would have the option to receive priority right to get into
» trials or get treatment. The priority would be based on how much a person
» donates. If the person desires, his/her name would be made public on the
» waiting list(website) so other people know who is in line first.
»
» Remember: 100,000 * $1,000 = $100,000,000 - We don’t need to advertise
» just let other bald men know and ask for whatever they can contribute. We
» can raise millions easily!
»
» IMPORTANT: If other board members have read this and like the idea PLEASE
» repy to the this thread…so we know that people find this somewhat
» interesting or we are just wasting time.
I think the reason your not getting much of a responce to this idea,is due to the fact that most of us would rather hide the fact that we think we’ve a problem with hair loss.That would make us seem weak and pathetic to most people!
I have quite a few mates.They may of picked up slightly that I have a problem with my hairloss,but I wouldn’t sit the and have a conversation about it - I’m to manly for that!
This is yet another reason why the focus of this to the outside world should be on women and children and cancer patients. Most guys would never admit to how much this bothers them, because outsiders view it as a non-issue. There’s enough ridicule to go with baldness without people thinking you are vain too. But if you say, yes, I don’t like my hairloss, and I would rather have it back. So just think how much it bothers a woman, a child, or a cancer patient. That would get much more sympathy from outsiders and it wouldn’t require you to reveal that your real motive was to get a solution primarily for yourself and other men.
This is an advertising site for paid
advertisers to showcase successful hair restoration results only. It is not the
mandate of this site to engage in the discussion of failed, unsuccessful
procedures, lawsuits, litigations, refunds or complaint cases. Surgical hair
restoration procedures carry risks. Please do thorough research, consult your
own physician and investigate a doctor's background carefully before making a
decision. By proceeding to use our site, you agree to abide by our Terms of Use & Privacy Policy at http://hairsite.com/terms-of-use/ where you can also find a list of HairSite's sponsoring physicians.
