Sucks you're excluded. Would've been cool to have someone on the forums to update us on their progress.
Btw what's your Norwood level?
Good hairline, NW2, retrograde alopecia, diffuse thinning through middle and posterior regions. Using a digital microscope, I can see that most of the secondary hairs are lost in the center of the diffusely-thinning patch. They asked for mild-moderate alopecia, so I thought I was good. But keep in mind, of course - that I was excluded doesn't mean I am not a good candidate for treatment. For them, the most important thing is to be able to see the effect clearly, if there is an effect. So I am sure that ideally they want someone with some degree of obvious balding that is not slick bald yet. Like a vellus hair region turning terminal would be a stark observation. So I believe that's why I was excluded.
It's too bad, too... I have the means to check whether or not I would have received placebo or seti... I thought it was going to be an interesting ride. Plus, they were going to pay ME $1000.
But on the other hand, I got to chat with the dermatologist leading the investigation there and she was telling me how some of the existing products were discovered serendipitously, like how bimatoprost was originally intended to treat eye glaucoma but was found to have a positive effect on eyelash growth, or how minoxidil was trialed as a medicine for hypertension, etc.; these effects would have been noted in clinical trials as a side effect of the medication. I asked her then how come with fevipiprant in phase 3 and other CRTH2 blockers known, none have reported hair growth as a side effect but the conversation did not really go anywhere.
I also asked her why they are trialing setipiprant orally, aren't CRTH2 receptors found all over the body? She laughed and said she wasn't prepared for in-depth questions, and then said she had to look over the proposal for the study again. She left the room, looked it over, returned with the notes, and told me that it doesn't really say why Allergan is interested in the oral route.
That kind of makes me nervous, you know? Yeah there may not be any
sexual side effects, but that's not the only bad thing in the world. The most commonly reported side effect from the previous phase 2 trials were headaches in ~2.5% of the people. The whole thing is unsettling to me because prostaglandins work in a yin-yang manner, and PGD2/PGE2 are found throughout the body and have other functions not relevant to hair. Additionally, lipid biology is not well studied and it is only in recent times that we are beginning to appreciate the function of prostaglandins, etc., so tipping the balance systemically is uncharted territory. The previous phase 3 trial was also only for 12 weeks. This study is for 8 months so...scary. But then again, apparently lots of people are running around with greatly attenuated DHT levels and are A-ok so who knows
