Without pinning himself to a timeline, the good doctor’s estimate for Follica’s treatment looks very possible for launch within the next five years. “It’s impossible to know for sure, but within the next several years — two to three — there’ll be a trial where we’ll use a procedure with the compound to see if it works in humans,” says Cotsarelis. “There will be the usual regulatory stuff after that, so perhaps in four to five years we’ll have something we can offer people.”

link to article

Read more about Follica on the Tressless Wiki

Follica CEO Daphne Zohar heads up the publicity with an overview on Xconomy.com:

“Our research has been progressing in a very positive way. We have had significant interest from the venture community and while we just closed the Series A round a few months ago, and weren’t planning on bringing in more money for a couple of years, we recognize that additional funds enable us to move more quickly.

Xconomy finishes up with a seven month old overview Zohar gave:

Daphne Zohar

“What’s so beautiful about the approach, [Zohar] says, is that translating it into a treatment for humans involves only devices and drugs that are already on the market. A doctor would first use a microdermabrasion tool, say, or a laser to remove the top layers of the skin—as is already commonly done in a number of dermatologic and cosmetic procedures—knocking some cells back into a primitive state. The doctor can then use this newly created therapeutic window to inject drugs that push the cells to develop along one pathway or another and grow hair or skin.

she then tries to get you into her van without actually giving you any candy:

Zohar won’t reveal what drugs Follica is using, except to say that they are small molecule drugs normally taken orally for purposes with no relation to hair growth.”

Sorry Daphne, but between articles, your application to WIPO already gave the big reveal:

and you thought Hot Pockets were bad. For the record, Gefitinib and Erlotinib are both oral drugs used to treat various cancers.

Interestingly, the WIPO application also discusses a “kit” at length, strongly suggesting that Follica will aim to provide a Do-It-Yourself home applicator:

Any of the above kits can optionally include instructions for applying the composition to the head of a subject (e.g., to the scalp, cheek, chin, lower face, or eyebrow), for applying the composition to the skin of a subject once or twice daily, for applying the composition to the skin of a subject for at least 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, or even 10 consecutive days, for administering the composition during the night, or administering the composition during the day.

Some major questions remain with Follica’s technique, including the quality and the capacity of the new hair to resist DHT. Follica reps appear confident on this issue, but it still remains to be seen. That said, Follica has some heavyweights behind it and we are finally entering an era of hair future-science.

Read more about Follica on the Tressless Wiki

As an aside, have any of you noticed that every single mainstream article is followed up by sentiments regarding how vociferous and eager the hairloss community is?

My story about Follica’s debut last January and its quest for a baldness cure sparked a long-running (440 comments and counting as of this writing) conversation among the startup’s would-be customers that’s still quite lively all these months later.

Loading image

Click anywhere to cancel

Loading image

Click anywhere to cancel

Follica’s co-founder, George Cotsarelis, is shown predicting a market release “within a few years” under “perfect” circumstances. It is also confirmed that human trials should begin “within the next year or two”.

Link to video on MSNBC’s page