Follica’s Hair-Raising Gamble

Startup looks to develop new products to reverse baldness.

Those ridiculous comb-overs may be a thing of the past after a Nature report revealed Thursday that scientists have discovered they could use a common protein to generate new hair follicles.

The scientists behind the study have already launched a new startup, called Follica, which aims to commercialize the discovery with a new hair growth treatment.

But bald people shouldn’t toss out their toupees just yet. The protein has only been tested in mice and it could be years before it is approved for human use. “This research has far reaching scientific and clinical applications for many skin and hair disorders,” said Wendy Roberts, a dermatologist at Desert Dermatology Medical Associates in Rancho Mirage, California. “But they must [first] be replicated in the human model."

Follica, backed by Boston, Massachusetts-based PureTech Ventures, would join an already crowded hair-renewal market that includes products from two brand-name pharmaceutical companies, as well as generic propecia, non-approved treatments, and hair transplant companies.

The market is dominated by Merck’s Propecia and Johnson & Johnson’s Rogaine, the only two hair regeneration products that have received U.S. regulatory approval. Emeryville, California-based Neosil, which has received more than $32 million from MPM Capital, Burrill & Company, and Shalon Ventures, is working on a compound that stimulates hair growth, but development is in the early stages.

“These products are better at maintaining hair than re-growing follicles on a bald scalp,” said George Cotsarelis, a University of Pennsylvania dermatologist who co-founded Follica with Harvard Medical School professor Rox Anderson in 2005.

Pittsburg, Pennsylvania-based Follica claims its products would be different because they would be based on a protein called WNT that helps form new hair follicles in wounded skin. “The previous belief is that hair follicles develop only in the womb,” said Dr. Cotsarelis.

Armed with their scientific discovery, the Follica team hope to develop a process by which they can gently wound the skin of a bald patient and apply a topical cream containing WNT in order to stimulate the growth of new hair follicles. The scientists believe they can also block hair growth by applying a separate compound to the wounded skin.

Daphne Zohar, the founding partner at PureTech ventures, said Follica’s scientific basis gives it a leg up over existing products. “People haven’t focused on translating science into the aesthetic market,” said Ms. Zohar, “so you end up with late-night-infomercial products, and most don’t work very well.”

Analysts said the aesthetic nature of the technology may open up acquisition opportunities in both the cosmetic and pharmaceutical industries.

Getting big pharma’s attention, however, won’t be easy because Follica would have to compete with cardiovascular drugs, sleep aids and anti-infection agents that generate far greater revenue than products such as Propecia and Rogaine. “Aesthetic products aren’t viewed as big business by the pharmaceutical industry,” said Joe Tooley, a pharmaceutical analyst at AG Edwards and Sons.

Source: http://www.redherring.com/