This headline sounds like music to one’s ears. Can you imagine using your belly fat to regenerate the thinning hair on your head?
This new approach to hair loss is being spearheaded by a company called Kerastem Technologies. They have recently launched a clinical trial to investigate the viability of injecting fat grafted from the body to treat early onset androgenetic alopecia, using their innovative and specialised technology. The Kerastem System is being actively pursued because the hair loss market opportunity is massive and growing exponentially.
What does the hair regrowth trial involve?
Using Kerastem therapy, the participant will undergo micro-liposuction to remove fat cells from under the skin.
This will be followed by the purification and enrichment with adipose-derived regenerative cells (ADRC) of the fatty tissue with the Puregraft and Celution systems, respectively. This is then this is injected into the scalp. The Puregraft system will remove any impurities in the fatty tissue while the Celution system will concentrate the ADRCs.
Various participants will receive either saline injections as a control or varying concentrations of ADRCs. This phase 2, randomised clinical trial will require 70 participants who are both male and female- all 18 years or older.
All participants should have a positive diagnosis of androgenetic alopecia. Females of child-bearing age should not be pregnant at the time of starting and consent to taking measures to prevent a pregnancy during the trial. The hair should not be interfered with in any way, like colouring or cutting it.
People on other hair loss treatments in the last 12 months prior to the start of the trial are excluded. There are other exclusion criteria on the very comprehensive list. The study will be conducted in eight separate locations in the US.
What does Kerastem therapy propose?
Many types of cells exist in human fat. These include stem cells and regenerative cells. Kerastem therapy will harvest this fat in areas of the body where is is not needed. Using the innovative technology, these cells are prepared and purified and injected into the scalp to restore hair growth.
The micro-liposuction removes a cup-full of fat and the same is injected back into your own body. There should be no complications with allergy, etc. The injectable product is both natural and organic.
Kerastem believes that the on-site therapy will decrease costs making the therapy more affordable. The Kerastem system already operates outside of the US in Europe and Japan where ongoing studies are being conducted.
