I first covered the exciting new company known as PolarityTE (stock ticker = COOL) in the middle of last year. The company was in the news a lot in 2017, primarily because of its miraculous (assuming effective) skin regeneration product known as “SkinTE”, which was also supposedly able to produce intact new fully functioning hair follicles.
- However, in that original post, I pointed out one article dated June 7, 2017 published on SeekingAlpha (with research conducted by a company called Cliffside Research) that took a critical view of PolarityTE. Their conclusion was that COOL shares had an “at least 64% downside from current valuation“. On that date, the stock was worth $18. As of today, it is worth a little over $23.
- Funnily enough, exactly 6 months later, on December 7, 2017, SeekingAlpha published yet another negative article about PolariytTE. This time the research was conducted by a company called Hindenburg Investment Research. Their conclusion was even more dramatic: “We believe the common equity is likely worthless“.
It seems like Hindenburg Research does not even have a website, while both Hindenburg and Cliffside have very few Twitter followers (often an indication of influence and longevity of existence). At first I was very surprised at this, since I thought Seeking Alpha was a highly reputable website in the investment world and only published research from well known entities. However, upon further research, I found that Seeking Alpha’s content is derived via crowdsourcing.
Hopefully the financial experts who visit this blog can help us better understand the validity of the above two negative conclusions. As I mentioned in my original post on PolarityTE last year, the company’s key staff members are extremely well qualified, and their medical and surgical credentials are impeccable.
PolarityTE Rapidly Marches Forward
Just a week after the second of the above two negative opinions about PolarityTE was published (albeit from what now seems to be essentially anonymous online contributors), PolarityTE announced the application of its SkinTE product on actual human patients at multiple medical centers. A great surprise for us in the hair loss world who are so used to only seeing initial mice based trials.
Moreover, just one week after the above announcement, on December 20, 2017 PolarityTE announced the creation of a new 200,00 square feet corporate headquarters.
PolarityTE Developing a Hair Restoration Product?
And I saved the best news of all for last.
The only reason that I even covered PolarityTE in the first place last year is because I wondered if their hair-bearing damaged skin replacement technology could also be used on balding scalps to replace perfectly normal undamaged skin — for the sole purpose of growing new hair follicles. PolarityTE itself has always mentioned on its website that this is an area of interest to them with great potential.
More recently:
- One of the main images on the SkinTE section of PolarityTE’s website (image file titled “manufacturing-process”) now shows a bald man. His scalp has then been enlarged/expanded to show what seems to be like new follicle growth.
- One of this blog’s readers e-mailed the company last week and got a response suggesting that they would be developing a hair loss related product. However, due to the anonymous nature of the comments on this blog, I decided to not take this fact as set in stone for the time being. I have contacted PolarityTE to verify this potential development. I asked them this very question last year, but got no response and hope for better this time.
Another Potential new Entrant in the Hairy Skin Sector?
As if one new entrant in the hair-bearing skin department was not enough, we start 2018 with even more good news. Earlier today, various newspapers announced that a US team of researchers from Indiana University School of Medicine had succeeded in growing both upper and lower layers of mice skin using stem cells. More importantly, the new skin also grew perfectly normal hair follicles.
— As always, the UK’s DailyMail knows what this blog’s readers are most interested in and cuts through the chase for us.