Hair loss news first:
— I have covered Samumed and its SM04554 product a few times on this blog in the recent past. The drug is likely not going to be a miracle hair loss cure. I was therefore impressed that the company’s poker whiz CEO Osman Kibar still managed to recently get profiled on a Forbes magazine cover page. In any case, a few days ago Samumed completed its Phase 2 clinical trials. Now we can only hope that they choose to continue with Phase 3 trials.
— Seems like South Korea’s Dong-A ST updated the Phase 1 clinical trials page for its DA-4001 topical finasteride product.
— If you live near Austin, Texas, Dermresearch has an ongoing hair loss drug related study in which you might be able to enroll. Some confusion about the exact drug being tested per this HLT forum thread (see second page).
— Sweden based Follicum’s US patent was approved in July. The patent covers the drug candidate FOL-005.
— HairCell, yet another new startup in the hair loss world. This one wants to use a “bioelectric stimulator combined with a micro infusion pump”. Even if the vast majority of these new entrants end up as outright failures or even frauds, I have never seen such frenetic activity in the hair loss world as witnessed in the past several years. HairCell’s phase 1 clinical trials have not yet commenced.
— Seems like this Italian man is creating his own version of Dr. Brotzu’s lotion/potion. I would not want to emulate him, but his blog is an entertaining read when you translate it into English.
— HLT forum member “antydhtor” started an extremely interesting thread with a great title in March, and he updates it regularly. I only noticed the thread in June.
— Joe Tillman has been making some great videos that he then posts on his youtube channel. When you combine Joe with the highly respected and skilled surgeon Dr. Ron Shapiro, you get an excellent final result.
— Commentator Peter Renardo gives us some more updates on his decades old artery ligation procedure. Extremely interesting, although I would never go through with such a procedure just to save hair.
— A more detailed article on Rivertown Therapeutics, a new company that I discussed in last month’s “brief items of interest” post.
— A 2015 presentation on Kerastem by Dr. David Perez-Meza (who is located in Spain) was posted on an Italian hair loss site last month. Results in 6 patients showed an improvement in all, with an average 14 percent increase in hair count at 6 months. Not that great for the price people pay for this treatment unless results last for years I would think.
— El Chapo going bald, although the link between stress and permanent hair loss is tenuous at best in my opinion.
And now on to medical items of interest:
— Stem cell stimulating regenerative dental fillings could eliminate the need for root canals.
— Artificial pancreas next year?
— Extremely interesting article on “pausing” people so as to then bring them back from the dead.
— Growing human bones from fat cells.
— Finally, a biodegradable absorbable stent for heart patients with blocked arteries.
— 3-parent DNA containing life-forms seem healthy when it comes to monkeys. Note that the UK has already approved this technology for human embryos. Below: “Spindler and Spindy, two of the monkeys created from the DNA of three parents.”
— 3D printed jaw for cancer survivor.
— 3D bone graft printing getting closer.
— Recently, I read an article that referred to an interesting freely available online 3D Human Blastocyst Viewer. You have to click on the bottom left options first and then on all the options on the right side. Way above my head, but there are probably at least three blog commentators on here who will understand this. Also reminds me of Dr. Michael Rendl’s Hair-GEL (gene expression library) site and Dr. Owen Rakham’s Mogrify, both of which I have mentioned on this blog in the past.
— A transparent skull implant = “window into the brain”.
— Wired magazine’s Kevin Kelly: Next 30 years in technology.
— Thanks to commentator “Susana” from Portugal (who is usually quite pessimistic) for providing us with this link on groundbreaking skin replacement technology from Spain.