WAY-316606 Clinical Trial Update 2019

One of the most popular hair-growth research discoveries in recent years is finally making its way into clinical trials. If successful, a product could become available sooner than expected.

In May 2018, an article published in the PLOS journal by Hawkshaw et al., showed that SFRP1 inhibition was a novel way of promoting human hair growth. The research team also identified an already existing drug which was capable of inhibiting SFRP1. That drug was, of course, WAY-316606. After the news hit media outlets people all over the world were asking to be part of the clinical trial and seeking ways to get their hands on this compound. In September 2018, the Guardian reported that Giuliani Pharma would be moving the project into clinical trials. Since then, there has been no sign of this taking place.

In a recent Follicle Thought article, Ralf Paus commented that Giuliani was actually going to be testing analogs (similar chemical structures) of the drug WAY-316606 which could be used as cosmetic agents to treat hair loss. This was great news. Even if we were just finding out that Giuliani was beginning a trial process for the actual WAY drug which would take 5-7 years, it would be positive. The fact that a product could now reach the market much sooner classified as a cosmetic is something to appreciate. Also recently, I made contact with a representative of Giuliani who directed me to a website featuring the company’s work in hair science. This site contains a list of Giuliani’s current hair-related projects, including the WAY research, which is titled “Wnt liberation therapy” on the webpage.

Exclusive From Giuliani

I’m also happy to present more detailed information on the status of Giuliani’s efforts to turn this promising research into an actual product. Barbara Marzani PhD, Scientific Project Manager at Giuliani was kind enough to share this important message with the readers of Follicle Thought:

“Currently, we are in the process of identifying and developing other compounds than WAY-316606 that may unfold similar hair growth-promoting properties as the latter, but have an even more advantageous safety profile. The most promising among these are being tested in our human scalp hair follicle organ culture as we speak, and relevant issues related to scale up synthesis, product stability, and optimal topical formulation are intensively being investigated.”

We are also in the process of starting a preliminary clinical pilot trial with one of these substances and expect to have results that we can share by the end of this year. Our fingers are crossed that these first results will be encouraging.”

And there you have it, a WAY-316606 analog, which could be be marketed as an over-the-counter product is set to show clinical results by the end of 2019. There’s going to be a lot of fingers crossed for this one.

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