In 2015, the median time to approval for new drugs was just 37 days faster for Japan's PMDA than USA's FDA. For me, that's not breathtaking enough to get excited about. That is unless Shiseido is able to produce good results and get approval sooner than later. That would be awesome.
Science takes as long as it takes imo. There are few to no shortcuts. Yes the science has improved a lot in the last, what, 10 to 15 years? UCLA's announcement that they are able to activate stem cells to grow HF is astounding. I really do think drugs to grow hair are coming and will be the most cost effective solution. I think we can now hope for a drug that induces hair growth in bald scalps, stimulating normal HF growth and without problems like "direction" of growth, issues with angle etc. And with Krox20 and SCF discoveries recently, they will even be able to grow hair with its original color. No more gray hair. Gray hair is also a "death symbol" for some of us. Nobody wants cryptkeeper hair, either.
But it's the technology that is behind and not so much the science. Finally, the science is speeding along at breakneck speed it seems. What we need are some brave engineering wannabes, or some actual biotech engineering technologists to test the limits and push the envelope of the practical and what is already known. Progress in science and technology comes often from doing things differently in unpredictable ways. Angela Christiano is the Orville Wright of hair biologists with her discovery for Jak-STAT signalling and producing what is hoped to be the first legit treatment for AA. We need more Orville Wrights to push the boundaries of science and technology in every area of research.
Lord Kelvin, the President of the Royal Society of England once said, "
Heavier than air flying machines are impossible!" But he was proved wrong by the Wright bros who had the courage and stubborn will to test the limits of scientific understanding in their day.