Histogen And Replicel Coming To A Theater Near You

Posted on December 3, 2015

Okay, they probably won’t be at a theater near you, more likely a dermatologist’s office, but still…they’re coming.

Lee Buckler of Replicel and Gail Naughton of Histogen had some great updates to share with the world at the 2015 World Congress for Hair Research in Miami, Florida. The most important of the updates were the announcements that both companies should have a hair regeneration product on the market sometime around early 2018. Histogen may be sooner.

Lee Buckler’s Interview on Replicel

Gail Naughton’s interview on Histogen

This is exceptional news. Lee announced that Shiseido will be initiating their clinical trial for approval in Japan within a matter of weeks, and most likely, before the end of 2015. Then, when all goes well in that one trial, Shiseido will be able to offer the treatment commercially while they still continue the phases of the trial process. Gail Naughton mentioned that Histogen is finalizing a partner in Mexico, where Histogen could go right into a phase 3 trial. That trial could happen sometime in January 2016, and if the trial goes well, Histogen will be able to offer the treatment in Mexico. Having Histogen available in Mexico would be very convenient for those living in the US.



Follicle Thoughts

Hearing that Histogen and Replicel could potentially both be available to the public within two years from now is amazing news. It brings a great joy and a sense of relief. I believe strongly in both of these treatments. I feel that, of the two, the visual evidence I’ve seen from Histogen has been more impressive thus far. Though, when I hear the team from Replicel speak about their technology, it sounds to me that they believe they have a superior technology for growing hair follicles. I’m excited to see results from Replicel’s trials.

It’s interesting to imagine the possibilities of the treatments and how they might work together. At first, everyone will be learning the best protocols. Do we space out the injections over a period of 5 weeks? Do we use Histogen and then Replicel, or Replicel first? Can we combine the treatments in the same injection? Then over time, the hair transplant surgeons and the companies themselves will know much more about how the products work and the optimal ways to use them.

Is this a “cure”? – I think it’s just about everything we’ve hoped for right now, a way to grow hair through simple injections. Histogen’s product is so simple you only need to step into the office and get injected and be our your merry way. Replicel’s product requires a small sample of your scalp hair to replicate cells from. As far as it being a cure for everyone, it just might be, although for some it may be a longer process. Here’s a thought. If you use one or both treatments on your scalp, you’re basically guaranteed to grow some cosmetically significant hair. If necessary, you can couple these treatments with a hair transplant; a conservative number of grafts for someone using a large portion of their donor might be 3,500 grafts. 3,500 grafts + Replicel + Histogen would produce a meaningful result for anyone. Then, we can now think about injecting Histogen & Replicel into the donor where the 3,500 grafts were taken from to regenerate those follicles. Obviously, we have not seen results from this kind of protocol so far, but one would imagine it would work efficiently. So, now with Histogen & Replicel we are peering into the realm of unlimited donor.

Here’s the kicker: there are still several other companies bringing some amazing hair tech to the world as well, in due time. My favorites among them: Follicum, Rapunzel, and Theracell.

Enjoy

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