And it is good. Trialists were given only one application of Histogen’s Hair Stimulating Complex (HSC), and in some cases gained 73% more hair in the application area.

HSC seems to be a relabeled version of their ReGenica product line, and is essentially a soup of fibroblast cell secretions– the same growth factor-rich cells that produce the extracellular matrix (ECM) components used by companies like ACell. Histogen claims a “proprietary bioreactor” that coaxes cells into embryonic states via “low gravity and oxygen” is used to generate their product. Whatever the source, one application of a product yielding this much after a year is very big news. This is your own hair with no surgery and no lotions.

During this study, patients received four types of scalp injections:

1. One placebo injection
2. One regular HSC injection
3. One dermabraded area with regular HSC
4. One area with a higher concentration of HSC

Dermabrasion is known to call growth factors to the wound site, and is one of the guiding techniques of similar-aiming Follica. In this case, however, the higher concentration of HSC on non-dermabraded areas reportedly performed the best, with both hair thickness and density increasing. Existing hairs looked better, new hairs popped up where none existed. It’s not clear yet what upper limits may exist with multiple applications or further variations of solution strength. It’s possible that more secret sauce gives even more hair.

Gail Naughton

Histogen founder and CEO, Gail Naughton, has been extremely transparent and forthright in comparison to other biotechnology companies focusing on hair (I’m looking at you, Intercytex and Follica). This may be necessitated due the funding woes of bootstrapping, but the benefit is mutual and her plainspoken rapport is quickly developing an eager audience.

Naughton is also clever enough to redirect studies and launch goals to areas of the world that don’t have as much regulatory tape and cost; this study was in Honduras, the next will be double the size at 50 patients in Singapore come June, and the last should add over 200 patients from Hong Kong, India and South Korea to that list in spring 2011.

Pilot trials helmed by Dr. Craig Ziering are planned for the US, but only for topical application ala Rogaine, not injections beneath the scalp as in this study. Given Naughton’s confidence with HSC’s safety profile in injectable form, it stands to reason that these trials would be more of a regulatory foot in America’s door, and we baldies will be taking an Asian vacation.

Histogen has had a rocky road this past year, being sued by dreamkillers SkinMedica, who claim Naughton is reusing technology from her previous company they had purchased patents from. Naughton disputes this claim, but the verdict is still out. In the meantime, this spooked the initial investors, who withdrew completely, taking all 36 employee’s payroll with them. 20 employees then volunteered to stay unpaid, presumably for equity and out of confidence in the company’s direction. There are some casual reports that $4.4 million was raised to sustain the employees, and that additional funds have been secured for the following trials, but this has not been confirmed.

More results from the trial are expected on May 5-8 at the Society for Investigative Dermatology Annual Meeting, and you can read the press release here.

Read more about Histogen in Tressless > Learn

Whitfield: enjoying the spoils of hair

Still in stealth mode as the intellectual property is in the process of being protected, Whitfield plans to have his “product and service” on the market within 12 months. His only guidance is that it is not based on “gene therapy” – an area being explored by several other British start-ups.

Telegraph suggests that Whitfield is The Real Deal because he’s already made a scrapbooking site:

To add to his credibility, he has already founded a successful internet venture called Miomi.com , which plots user-generated personal histories.

Sounds reasonable to us.

Another brassy hint-dropper was internet supplement hero Dr. Mercola on March of last year:

Mercola: the bald leading the blind

(On a side note, if you don’t have much hair, like me, then this is not a big deal. But I will start some investigational ADULT stem cell topical therapy soon, and there is a 90 percent chance I will have a full head of hair in one year — so at that time I’ll be paying more attention to my hair care. Dr. Phil starts it this week.)

and again a few months ago:

I am actually in the process of beta testing some topical stem cell factors that promises to provide me with a full head of original hair in the next three months. I am taking pictures daily so it will be fun to document the process.

Last we looked, Dr. Mercola and Dr. Phil’s heads still looked like undescended testicles, but there is still another month to go. Look, more cooks in the kitchen is a good thing in our case, but we could do without the perpetual overstatements that lend themselves to free hype-based marketing. There are many hopeful people that cling to these unrealistic promises.

Bonus: here’s a small video of Whitfield fishing for ideas at HealthCamp UK, in Nov, 2008: link