Ucla Licenses Lactate Hair Growth Drugs

[ImpedingReceding]

Just read this on Follicle thought, sounds pretty promising?

--------------------------
Back in August 2017, UCLA researchers made headlines by discovering a new way to activate hair follicle stem cells. This was done through a metabolite called lactate.

William Lowry and Heather Christofk of UCLA’s Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research were responsible for the lactate discovery. Lowry and Christofk found that hair follicle stem cells produce a metabolite called pyruvate. After production, the stem cells either send pyruvate into their mitochrondria or convert pyruvate into a different metabolite called lactate which activates the stem cells to produce more hair growth. The team then looked for ways to 1) diminish the entry of pyruvate into the mitochrondria and 2) increase production of lactate via the JAK-Stat pathway.

Two drugs that already existed were found to accomplish the two tasks mentioned above. A drug called RCDG423 was found to increase lactate production and another drug called UK5099 was found to block pyruvate from entering the mitochondria in hair follicle stem cells. This story caused quite a stir, but shortly thereafter the discussion on lactate for hair growth would go silent…..until now.

Enter Pelage Pharmaceuticals
On May 28th 2019 it has been announced by UCLA that Lowry, Christofk, and Michael Jung have formed a company named Pelage Pharmaceuticals to develop said compounds for human hair growth. The company is still in preclinical trials. It’s also been announced that Pelage Pharmaceuticals has entered into an agreement with Allergan (major aesthetic pharma company) to sell their entire company to Allergan if the hair growth compounds perform well in the first clinical trials. The Pelage website mentions one advantage of their technology is:

“Significantly greater efficacy than current therapies (minoxidil and finasteride)”

University research that turns into an actual company is typically few and far between. I always had a feeling that this UCLA research was going to turn into something substantial for human use. Now, here we are. Just as always, it’s going to be a number of years for this technology to go through the clinical trial process, but having a new player in the game is a valued asset for everyone. No one knows which drug in development is actually going to be the one to create a big change for those of us dealing with hair loss. I hope to be updating about a clinical trial for Pelage Pharmaceuticals as soon as possible.

Thank you for citing Follicle Thought as your source for this news.

 

[wc5269]

Great news.

University research that turns into an actual company is typically few and far between.

To play devil’s advocate, university research turns into INDs (investigational new drugs) literally everyday. All this really means is Allergan (or whoever is investing) thinks the risk of spending the ~50 million dollars that it will cost to bring this drug to phase 2 is worth the billions in potential reward. That’s better than nothing, but still no reason to believe this drug is better than any other preclinical drug, which currently have <10% success rate of getting approved.

 

[Pephair]

I think this was brought up last time when the study first came out, but is it possible to just dermaroll and apply a lactate topical to the scalp?
I'd assume not, as that would be too simple.

 

[SamFT]

Just read this on Follicle thought, sounds pretty promising?

--------------------------
Back in August 2017, UCLA researchers made headlines by discovering a new way to activate hair follicle stem cells. This was done through a metabolite called lactate.

William Lowry and Heather Christofk of UCLA’s Eli and Edythe Broad Center for Regenerative Medicine and Stem Cell Research were responsible for the lactate discovery. Lowry and Christofk found that hair follicle stem cells produce a metabolite called pyruvate. After production, the stem cells either send pyruvate into their mitochrondria or convert pyruvate into a different metabolite called lactate which activates the stem cells to produce more hair growth. The team then looked for ways to 1) diminish the entry of pyruvate into the mitochrondria and 2) increase production of lactate via the JAK-Stat pathway.

Two drugs that already existed were found to accomplish the two tasks mentioned above. A drug called RCDG423 was found to increase lactate production and another drug called UK5099 was found to block pyruvate from entering the mitochondria in hair follicle stem cells. This story caused quite a stir, but shortly thereafter the discussion on lactate for hair growth would go silent…..until now.

Enter Pelage Pharmaceuticals
On May 28th 2019 it has been announced by UCLA that Lowry, Christofk, and Michael Jung have formed a company named Pelage Pharmaceuticals to develop said compounds for human hair growth. The company is still in preclinical trials. It’s also been announced that Pelage Pharmaceuticals has entered into an agreement with Allergan (major aesthetic pharma company) to sell their entire company to Allergan if the hair growth compounds perform well in the first clinical trials. The Pelage website mentions one advantage of their technology is:

“Significantly greater efficacy than current therapies (minoxidil and finasteride)”


View attachment 120082

University research that turns into an actual company is typically few and far between. I always had a feeling that this UCLA research was going to turn into something substantial for human use. Now, here we are. Just as always, it’s going to be a number of years for this technology to go through the clinical trial process, but having a new player in the game is a valued asset for everyone. No one knows which drug in development is actually going to be the one to create a big change for those of us dealing with hair loss. I hope to be updating about a clinical trial for Pelage Pharmaceuticals as soon as possible.

Thank you for citing Follicle Thought as your source for this news.

Allergan knows what their doing. They know how much money they can make bringing a hairless drug to market. This is the 3rd drug they would try to bring to market now.
I gotta admit though, Follicle Thought does a good job keeping us up to date on all these new developments.

 

[Mandar kumthekar]

I doubt any single drug can make hairloss reversible. There are various pathways involved in the hairloss and just modifying one would not be sufficient. But nonetheless this is exciting as this approach is related to stem cells. Thanks for information.

 

[Jakejr]

As we all know hairloss is substantially more severe in males. At puberty, what do we find.. Young males in this forum, as an example, complaining of hairloss. While females of same ages aren’t. Their complaint is I wish I could grow my hair another foot or so. Males would take an inch.
We know of the hormone discrepancies.
But did we take into account that females produce milk. (Perhaps another reason for discrepancy in hair thickness/ growth.)
Lactate is a hair growth factor. Men don’t produce milk. I suppose next time I buy a pint of milk I’ll pour it on my head.

 

[morfeuzz]

Isnt Allergan part of the histogen trial ??

 

[tomJ]

Isnt Allergan part of the histogen trial ??

Not that I know of.

 

[Georgie]

I think this was brought up last time when the study first came out, but is it possible to just dermaroll and apply a lactate topical to the scalp?
I'd assume not, as that would be too simple.

It was tried without success. Lactate likely isn’t the primary instigator for hair growth here, rather something along the same pathway which in a cascade effect.

 

[dietcoke1987]

https://www.jidonline.org/article/S0022-202X(17)33093-2/fulltext

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Goodwinol-...rentrq:6819656b16b0a9e47944c238ffd0eb9c|iid:1

So rotenone is also a compound listed that gives the same result. Which anyone can easily acquire and is already pre-diluted making it easier to work with.
You can buy a 1.25% Rotenone topical(Goodwinol ointment) very cheap. So maybe this is a treatment worth pursuing a deeper look.

 

[Georgie]

https://www.jidonline.org/article/S0022-202X(17)33093-2/fulltext

https://www.ebay.com/itm/Goodwinol-Ointment-1oz-for-Mange-in-Dogs/111192358726?_trkparms=aid=111001&algo=REC.SEED&ao=1&asc=20160908105057&meid=98e80d3f6e254836a217d0027bb1909c&pid=100675&rk=1&rkt=15&mehot=pp&sd=111192358726&itm=111192358726&_trksid=p2481888.c100675.m4236&_trkparms=pageci:73976737-9164-11e9-8014-74dbd1807315|parentrq:6819656b16b0a9e47944c238ffd0eb9c|iid:1

So rotenone is also a compound listed that gives the same result. Which anyone can easily acquire and is already pre-diluted making it easier to work with.
You can buy a 1.25% Rotenone topical(Goodwinol ointment) very cheap. So maybe this is a treatment worth pursuing a deeper look.

Rotenone is a pesticide, and is quite toxic

 

[dietcoke1987]

Rotenone is a pesticide, and is quite toxic

It's only mildly toxic to humans and mammals, it's extremely toxic to insects and fish however due to their different biology. That's why it is no concern at the dosage for topical use such as the ointment listed which has been sold and used for decades by vets on dogs, far less the magnitude lower dosage it would be even further diluted to for the concentrations they used in the study. The study also listed it used only once per day, three days a week which also even further significantly reduces amount used.

 

[Georgie]

It's only mildly toxic to humans and mammals, it's extremely toxic to insects and fish however due to their different biology. That's why it is no concern at the dosage for topical use such as the ointment listed which has been sold and used for decades by vets on dogs, far less the magnitude lower dosage it would be even further diluted to for the concentrations they used in the study. The study also listed it used only once per day, three days a week which also even further significantly reduces amount used.

Yeah I saw in the study that the smaller dose was “subtoxic” but as far as I’m aware people have still become ill from this, likely from ingestion. If trialed, it would need to be used with extreme caution and I would hesitate to use this if you’ve got pets.

 

[dietcoke1987]

Yeah I saw in the study that the smaller dose was “subtoxic” but as far as I’m aware people have still become ill from this, likely from ingestion. If trialed, it would need to be used with extreme caution and I would hesitate to use this if you’ve got pets.

It's actually the isolated chemical from that famous plant natives use in the Amazon where they get the root or bark or whatever of some plant crush it and put it upstream and kill/paralyze fish downstream for extremely easy fishing. The actual chemical apparently is very frequently used for fishing and by extension is commonly consumed.

I totally agree about proper care around pets. Anyone with any pets should do this already. Cooking spices, touching windex or other cleaning supplies, cologne/perfume and so on can be deadly for different pets. Pet owns should always have on their mind proper handling practices. For example if I never washed my hands good enough after the rotenone then did work in my reef tank I could nuke the whole thing. Or use a cleaning product near my parrot to clean something could easily kill my parrot. This should always be something a pet owner should have on their mind not just with handling hair products. So many sad stories out there of people who never knew better.

But I do think it sounds promising and the amount for application seems extremely low. We are talking if I did my math correctly around 25mg of the 1.25% rotenone Goodwinol ointment(which is safely used straight up on mammals already at that concentration) in 30ml/1ounce of a balm/oil/cream. Then on top of that it's once a day not twice, and less than half the days of the week applied, so that's 3 applications a week verses a potential 14 applications which is common for many other topicals. So it seems like quite a find for a treatment to address hairloss from a quite unique angle that hasn't been tried at all before. Which may also make it very synergistic with other things and may be the extra push needed to see decent results. Maybe this topical dutasteride/finasteride and minoxidil alone may get the ball rolling. I just started trying it the other day along with apocynin which sounds promising. The apocynin seems to have given a noticable improvement in a matter of 1 day on my face/eyes when I included it in a face serum, in a matter of one day skin looked more toned and rested. So we'll see how it goes.

 

[Georgie]

It's actually the isolated chemical from that famous plant natives use in the Amazon where they get the root or bark or whatever of some plant crush it and put it upstream and kill/paralyze fish downstream for extremely easy fishing. The actual chemical apparently is very frequently used for fishing and by extension is commonly consumed.

I totally agree about proper care around pets. Anyone with any pets should do this already. Cooking spices, touching windex or other cleaning supplies, cologne/perfume and so on can be deadly for different pets. Pet owns should always have on their mind proper handling practices. For example if I never washed my hands good enough after the rotenone then did work in my reef tank I could nuke the whole thing. Or use a cleaning product near my parrot to clean something could easily kill my parrot. This should always be something a pet owner should have on their mind not just with handling hair products. So many sad stories out there of people who never knew better.

But I do think it sounds promising and the amount for application seems extremely low. We are talking if I did my math correctly around 25mg of the 1.25% rotenone Goodwinol ointment(which is safely used straight up on mammals already at that concentration) in 30ml/1ounce of a balm/oil/cream. Then on top of that it's once a day not twice, and less than half the days of the week applied, so that's 3 applications a week verses a potential 14 applications which is common for many other topicals. So it seems like quite a find for a treatment to address hairloss from a quite unique angle that hasn't been tried at all before. Which may also make it very synergistic with other things and may be the extra push needed to see decent results. Maybe this topical dutasteride/finasteride and minoxidil alone may get the ball rolling. I just started trying it the other day along with apocynin which sounds promising. The apocynin seems to have given a noticable improvement in a matter of 1 day on my face/eyes when I included it in a face serum, in a matter of one day skin looked more toned and rested. So we'll see how it goes.

Are you going to try it then? You could use DMSO which it is soluble in at 50mg/ml and dilute with distilled water. Likely something I would do as I detest oils and creams in my long hair.

I am going to read over the study again, pick it apart for information. Unfortunately we don’t know how irritating this could be to the skin so that would all just be trial and error.

 

[dietcoke1987]

Are you going to try it then? You could use DMSO which it is soluble in at 50mg/ml and dilute with distilled water. Likely something I would do as I detest oils and creams in my long hair.

I am going to read over the study again, pick it apart for information. Unfortunately we don’t know how irritating this could be to the skin so that would all just be trial and error.

On Pubchem it says it degrades in a few days in water which is why I mentioned a more oil based base. It says an acid can help which is why they have tartaric acid as a stabilizer in that goodwinol ointment, but to what extent and how much used I have no clue. The ointment I got the rotenone was already changing color to orange/red meaning it's breaking down and it seems to be quite common with the product, so it must degrade quite easily or their formulation is crap. I had to dig all the way to the bottom of the jar to get out product to use that wasn't oxidized.

I'm pretty leery about using DMSO in hair topicals anymore and even skin topicals after reading the product research data for redensyl. I made a post about this before but got no feedback from anyone who might have some insight on the subject. They used DMSO as a negative control for both Outer Root Sheath stem cells and Human Follicular Dermal Papilla cells. DMSO basically completely shut down cell proliferation. Something like 85-98% reduction from untreated. If there is a concentration that can be used as a penetration enhancer but will have virtually no negative impact to sabotage us I would really like to know. Maybe there is some data on DMSO that could help give a ballpark idea in some skincare studies but I have no clue where to look. So this is where I'm at right now. For me personally since I'm only treating my temples undesirable consistency and whatnot of the physical properties of diy topicals doesn't have much impact on me, but I could see how it would be an issue for others treating other areas of the head but this is where I'm coming from.

http://www.nardev.com/UploadSection/ProdCat-276-1446515551.pdf

 

[polishkickbuttowski]

On Pubchem it says it degrades in a few days in water which is why I mentioned a more oil based base. It says an acid can help which is why they have tartaric acid as a stabilizer in that goodwinol ointment, but to what extent and how much used I have no clue. The ointment I got the rotenone was already changing color to orange/red meaning it's breaking down and it seems to be quite common with the product, so it must degrade quite easily or their formulation is crap. I had to dig all the way to the bottom of the jar to get out product to use that wasn't oxidized.

I'm pretty leery about using DMSO in hair topicals anymore and even skin topicals after reading the product research data for redensyl. I made a post about this before but got no feedback from anyone who might have some insight on the subject. They used DMSO as a negative control for both Outer Root Sheath stem cells and Human Follicular Dermal Papilla cells. DMSO basically completely shut down cell proliferation. Something like 85-98% reduction from untreated. If there is a concentration that can be used as a penetration enhancer but will have virtually no negative impact to sabotage us I would really like to know. Maybe there is some data on DMSO that could help give a ballpark idea in some skincare studies but I have no clue where to look. So this is where I'm at right now. For me personally since I'm only treating my temples undesirable consistency and whatnot of the physical properties of diy topicals doesn't have much impact on me, but I could see how it would be an issue for others treating other areas of the head but this is where I'm coming from.

http://www.nardev.com/UploadSection/ProdCat-276-1446515551.pdf

This is really interesting definitely keep us updated if you find a good way to use rotenone as a topical. Also in what way did apocynin make your skin look better? I have some premature wrinkles I'd love to get rid of.

 

[Georgie]

On Pubchem it says it degrades in a few days in water which is why I mentioned a more oil based base. It says an acid can help which is why they have tartaric acid as a stabilizer in that goodwinol ointment, but to what extent and how much used I have no clue. The ointment I got the rotenone was already changing color to orange/red meaning it's breaking down and it seems to be quite common with the product, so it must degrade quite easily or their formulation is crap. I had to dig all the way to the bottom of the jar to get out product to use that wasn't oxidized.

I'm pretty leery about using DMSO in hair topicals anymore and even skin topicals after reading the product research data for redensyl. I made a post about this before but got no feedback from anyone who might have some insight on the subject. They used DMSO as a negative control for both Outer Root Sheath stem cells and Human Follicular Dermal Papilla cells. DMSO basically completely shut down cell proliferation. Something like 85-98% reduction from untreated. If there is a concentration that can be used as a penetration enhancer but will have virtually no negative impact to sabotage us I would really like to know. Maybe there is some data on DMSO that could help give a ballpark idea in some skincare studies but I have no clue where to look. So this is where I'm at right now. For me personally since I'm only treating my temples undesirable consistency and whatnot of the physical properties of diy topicals doesn't have much impact on me, but I could see how it would be an issue for others treating other areas of the head but this is where I'm coming from.

http://www.nardev.com/UploadSection/ProdCat-276-1446515551.pdf

Thank you for your detailed reply. Much appreciated. DMSO is not my favourite vehicle I must admit and I usually hazard to use it because of how harsh it is on the skin. I agree with what you have stated here.

Please do keep up updated on your endeavours to optimise this as a topical as much as you can. If it works, it could be a a real breakthrough for us.

 

[JimmyB]

Great, we'll know in about 10 years. Academics take forever and never seem to have an urgency to get anything to market.

 

[Get my hair back]

Thank you for your detailed reply. Much appreciated. DMSO is not my favourite vehicle I must admit and I usually hazard to use it because of how harsh it is on the skin. I agree with what you have stated here.

Please do keep up updated on your endeavours to optimise this as a topical as much as you can. If it works, it could be a a real breakthrough for us.

I guess it didn't work out so well since the test subject is missing.