Last month we told the story of the team from Manchester who had identified a potential new hair loss candidate… today we see it being advertised.
Dr Nathan Hawkshaw
Dr Hawkshaw is a Dr. of Medicine who did his PhD in Dermatology. He works at the prestigious University of Manchester and, with his colleagues, in the laboratory of Prof. Ralf Paus. He is of enormous interest to us because they were researching our favourite topic… hair loss.
Dr Hawkshaw’s team had run a full gene expression analysis of a drug called Cyclosporine A (CsA). This drug has been in common use since the 80’s where it is essential for it’s immunosupressive qualities… allowing patients to be treated for autoimmune disorders and helping to avoid transplant rejection. On it’s quite long list of side-effects, and definitely considered the least serious, was unwanted hair growth… it seems the (CsA) took the brakes off hair growth.
Identifying the Hair Growth Trigger
It would also seem apparent that because the unwanted hair growth was the least serious of the observed side-effects not much attention was paid to it. Until that is Dr Hawkshaw and his team decided to make a closer inspection. The gene expression analysis they performed revealed that the CsA reduces the production of a protein called SFRP1, which inhibits the development and growth of many tissues, including hair follicles.
This revelationary piece of information also came with a bonus, that this inhibitory mechanism was completely unrelated to the immunosupressive action of CsA. Dr Hawkshaw’s team set out and found a compound, WAY-316606, that targets the same mechanism with none of the side-effects associated with CsA.
HIS Hair Clinic
This was last month. The team in Manchester are making their plans for clinical trials… testing to date was done with human hair follicles donated by a UK hair transplant surgeon (wonder if they told their patients).
Imagine our surprise when we read of a Mumbai based Indian transplant surgeon already offering his clients a treatment based on the research. To be fair, he has analysed Dr Hawkshaw’s results and published his results on YouTube. We kid you not. Our strong recommendation would be to save yourself a trip to a Mumbai clinic, even if you live in Mumbai, and wait for the team at Manchester to update us… bear in mind that until those clinic trials have been performed there are no guidelines on required dose, method of application, frequency of dose… oh, and safety. Never mind efficacy.
We will most definitely keep you posted on their progress.
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