There has been a lot of interest and buzz as of late about a revolutionary new treatment for hair loss called Hair Stimulating Complex or HSC. HSC is being developed by Histogen, Inc. a regenerative medicine company who develops therapeutical solutions using new born cells grown under embryonic conditions.
Hair Stimulating Complex is a proprietary formulation of naturally secreted embryonic-like proteins and growth factors. In addition to Wnt 7a, which is recognized to be crucial in the induction and maintenance of hair follicle growth, HSC contains a large array of factors typically produced by embryonic cells and which are critical to the hair cycle, like follistatin. While these embryonic-like materials are amplified under Histogen’s unique manufacturing conditions, undesirable proteins and growth factors, including Wnt 5a, which has been deomstrated to be associated with cancer, are eliminated.
“The development of hair follicles is the consequence of a complex interplay of factors that is still being unraveled,” said Dr. Jonathan Mansbridge, Histogen’s Chief Scientific Officer. “However, several factors critical to hair growth, such as Wnt 7a, follistatin, VEGF and KGF, are present in HSC, and their secretion by the cells is stimulated by the culture conditions we use. The embryonic conditions under which our cells are manufactured not only upregulates genes associated with hair growth, but induces significantly more production of these critical factors than seen with normal 3D or monolayer cultures.”
On April 13th, Histogen announced the 1 year data findings of its Hair Stimulating Complex (HSC) pilot clinical trial. Statistically great new hair growth was seen in HSC-treated patients at this follow-up timepoint, one year after their single treatment with HSC.
In addition to the amount of new hairs, a statistically strong (p<0.05) increase in hair density, which is directly related to hair count over the treated areas, was also observed at the one-year timepoint. Other efficacy factors, such as hair thickness and terminal hair density, demonstrated an upward trend at this timepoint as well. The pilot trial tested two formulations of HSC and, although one formulation was shown to be superior, significant new hair growth was seen in both groups. (p=0.032)
This new data indicates that a single HSC treatment not only producesrapid hair growth (statistically significant increases in the number of terminal hairs, hair thickness density and hair shaft diameter was observed at three months), but that these results persist over time.
When will Hair Stimulating Complex be available? Histogen is planning to conduct additional product trials in Singapore and an injectable treatment product could be available in Asia by 2015. Providing that the Singapore study is successfully finished, Naughton says Histogen plans to conduct a late-stage clinical trial of its hair regrowth treatment that will enroll between 200 and 250 patients from Hong Kong , India , South Korea, and Singapore. She says the trial is scheduled to begin in spring 2011. “If everything goes well,” Naughton says, “we expect to get pan-Asian approval [for the HSC treatment] everywhere but Japan.” |
