Meiji Seika Pharma teams up with Dr. Tsuji of the Riken Center

[Pray The Bald Away]

http://asia.nikkei.com/Tech-Science...rma-teams-with-lab-to-research-hair-loss-cure
Meiji Holdings has partnered with Dr. Tsuji, most likely working towards a cure using stem cells to multiply hairs. As of now, we know that Meiji will be providing funds to Tsuji's team in order to aquire rights to whatever treatment results of their partnership. Given that Tsuji has been working for quite awhile on a cure, we can assume that he is going to continue working toward the "holy grail" treatment, which is permanent DHT immune hairs that can be multiplied and then injected back into the patient's scalp. At least this is how I understand his work. Feel free to correct me if I'm wrong. Regardless, this is very good news and puts us one step closer to an ultimate cure.

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This is also in Japan, so if a cure is found, commericialization will be possible during phase 2 with conditional approval. This seems like the perfect environment to develop something.

 

[baldboys]

man why is japan so interested in hair loss. Isnt a lot less common for asians to go bald?

 

[buckthorn]

man why is japan so interested in hair loss. Isnt a lot less common for asians to go bald?

money money money... the Japanese are damn smart and if we get a cure, we can expect it to come from Japan.

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

man why is japan so interested in hair loss. Isnt a lot less common for asians to go bald?

It said 12 million asian men suffer from male pattern baldness. I'm not sure what percentage of the population that is but it seems like a lot.

 

[BrianH]

Great find. It's great to see they have the sole purpose of curing male pattern baldness and have the funding behind them. I recall hellouser posting an interview with one scientist who said she had to work full time on top of her research, so a team dedicated solely to male pattern baldness sounds lovely. Cheers to phase 2 if they crack this curse!

 

[Templezz]

This is exciting! considering Japan's relaxed regulations about trials and all, some optimism is warranted from this.

lets all pray together

 

[GoldenMane]

Great news, one of the few teams I have any faith in and this is real progress! Btw, Japanese men under 40 have amazing hair genes, its very uncommon to see anyone under 30 above NW2. I mean less than 1%, maybe less than 0.1%. But over 40s get hit pretty, it's very, very common in over 40s. Japan has the highest prevalence in male pattern baldness in Asia afaik. I'd love to get in on the trials!

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

My view is that Meiji wouldn't just blindly throw money at Tsuji's team. They must have analyzed his work and came to the conclusion that a cure is in their somewhat near future. They are basically buying rights to the treatment being researched. I have faith that there is something significant in the pipeline to warrant the interest of such a large company.

 

[Hairloss23]

It said 12 million asian men suffer from male pattern baldness. I'm not sure what percentage of the population that is but it seems like a lot.

That's definitely wrong, there are over 2 billion in China and India alone. I think they mean Japan only which has a population of 127 million, assuming half are men (63.5 million) then the 12 million figure seems about right for an Asian country, it is much less common for Mongoloids to suffer hair loss compared to Caucasians. But there is no way there are only 12 million balding men across the entire continent of Asia, and that figure certainly wouldn't be "a lot" like you said, not even if it was just Japan.

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

That's definitely wrong, there are over 2 billion in China and India alone. I think they mean Japan only which has a population of 127 million, assuming half are men (63.5 million) then the 12 million figure seems about right for an Asian country, it is much less common for Mongoloids to suffer hair loss compared to Caucasians. But there is no way there are only 12 million balding men across the entire continent of Asia, and that figure certainly wouldn't be "a lot" like you said, not even if it was just Japan.

Apologies, I meant to say 12 million men in Japan.

 

[hellouser]

man why is japan so interested in hair loss. Isnt a lot less common for asians to go bald?

MONEY. And they're not just about expediting treatments for hair loss, but pretty much everything. USA's a joke, nobody is getting any REAL treatments there any time soon. Europe isn't much different and the rest of the world is irrelevant. Japan is capitalizing on the opportunity and will make a ton of cash. Should Replicel work, you can can bet your life that there will be a ton of foreign visitors dumping heaps of cash into Japan's economy.

 

[Afro_Vacancy]

If hair less is less common it actually makes it a more substantial problem. The fewer the number of people with hairloss, the greater the effective disfigurement.

Beauty is a zero sum game. If some people are more beautiful, necessarily others are uglier.

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

If hair less is less common it actually makes it a more substantial problem. The fewer the number of people with hairloss, the greater the effective disfigurement.

Beauty is a zero sum game. If some people are more beautiful, necessarily others are uglier.

I understand the sentiment, but do treatments get cured based on sympathy for the disfigured, or because the financial incentive is significant enough? I'd argue the latter would be more effective in rushing a cure to market. I think Japan knows medical tourism would kick into overdrive if they become the first to create a cure for male pattern baldness. But I digress. I think hairloss is a horrible disfigurement that happens to very large chunk of the population. I would go as far to say that a cure for it would make more money than a cure to cancer. Who knows? I have a feeling we'll see very soon.

 

[hellouser]

I understand the sentiment, but do treatments get cured based on sympathy for the disfigured, or because the financial incentive is significant enough? I'd argue the latter would be more effective in rushing a cure to market. I think Japan knows medical tourism would kick into overdrive if they become the first to create a cure for male pattern baldness. But I digress. I think hairloss is a horrible disfigurement that happens to very large chunk of the population. I would go as far to say that a cure for it would make more money than a cure to cancer. Who knows? I have a feeling we'll see very soon.

Cancer would make more money, easily. Everyone in my family has died because of it.

Also, remember that WOMEN are also a factor in rushing a cure to market. Because male pattern baldness is primarily a man's problem... it's not taken as seriously as it should be.

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

Plus it's clear that no one gives a f**k about the impact of balding for men... We're essentially the butt of a perpetual joke.

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Cancer would make more money, easily. Everyone in my family has died because of it.

Also, remember that WOMEN are also a factor in rushing a cure to market. Because male pattern baldness is primarily a man's problem... it's not taken as seriously as it should be.

Wouldn't it depend on the form of "cure" to cancer? The long term treatments we have now easily make a insane amounts of money due to the fact that they continue indefinitely. But how would that change if it were a one time cure? I'm not exactly sure about the stats on the amount of people who develop cancer vs male pattern baldness. However, I guess you would be correct just for the simple fact that people will naturally pay much much more for life saving treatments as opposed to cosmetic ones. Plus insurance will most likely cover a cure to cancer. The big "but" is that each cancer is different and could require a different mechanism to solve, unlike male pattern baldness. An male pattern baldness cure will probably be a one size fits all kind of thing, so it can expect to bring more money in aggregate.

 

[hellouser]

Plus it's clear that no one gives a f**k about the impact of balding for men... We're essentially the butt of a perpetual joke.

If balding is seen as the butt of a perpetual joke, then there is no reason why fat shaming should be a 'thing'. The same goes for people with acne, or whatever else they're screwed with that makes people see them negatively. Why? Because they're all non-life threatening.... the same bullshit response WE get about baldness.

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Wouldn't it depend on the form of "cure" to cancer? The long term treatments we have now easily make a insane amounts of money due to the fact that they continue indefinitely. But how would that change if it were a one time cure? I'm not exactly sure about the stats on the amount of people who develop cancer vs male pattern baldness. However, I guess you would be correct just for the simple fact that people will naturally pay much much more for life saving treatments as opposed to cosmetic ones. Plus insurance will most likely cover a cure to cancer. The big "but" is that each cancer is different and could require a different mechanism to solve, unlike male pattern baldness. An male pattern baldness cure will probably be a one size fits all kind of thing, so it can expect to bring more money in aggregate.

There's never going to be a shortage of people. I have no sympathy for pharmaceuticals going out of business. They've made their billions already. Out with the old relics and in with the new superior options. How much longer are they going to dictate what our options should be?

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

If balding is seen as the butt of a perpetual joke, then there is no reason why fat shaming should be a 'thing'. The same goes for people with acne, or whatever else they're screwed with that makes people see them negatively. Why? Because they're all non-life threatening.... the same bullshit response WE get about baldness.

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There's never going to be a shortage of people. I have no sympathy for pharmaceuticals going out of business. They've made their billions already. Out with the old relics and in with the new superior options. How much longer are they going to dictate what our options should be?

Agreed. My excitement with Meiji is that they are partnering with Takashi Tsuji, who has been working in a government funded lab until now. This seems to be the equivalent of someone like Dr. Colin Jahoda seeking private funding for a treatment in the pipelines for stem cell related hair regeneration, which I doubt will ever happen. This is surely something to be very optimistic about. Combined with the Chinese recently proving that DP cell trichigenecity can be maintained after 8 pases, we have a lot to look forward to in the near future as it pertains to stem cell technology for hair loss.

 

[hellouser]

Agreed. My excitement with Meiji is that they are partnering with Takashi Tsuji, who has been working in a government funded lab until now. This seems to be the equivalent of someone like Dr. Colin Jahoda seeking private funding for a treatment in the pipelines for stem cell related hair regeneration, which I doubt will ever happen. This is surely something to be very optimistic about. Combined with the Chinese recently proving that DP cell trichigenecity can be maintained after 8 pases, we have a lot to look forward to in the near future as it pertains to stem cell technology for hair loss.

I think I remember hearing something about Tsuji Labs wanting to get things rolling by 2020... dont know if that means an actual product or starting clinical trials. But either way, Japan really is our best hope.

 

[Pray The Bald Away]

And I'm very sorry about your family Hellouser, I can't even imagine how painful losing someone to cancer must be.

 

[hellouser]

And I'm very sorry about your family Hellouser, I can't even imagine how painful losing someone to cancer must be.

It sucks, but I don't make too big of a deal about it actually. Dying is a part of life. I don't expect immortality to be a reality any time soon, but there's really no point in trying to deny or grieve about the inevitable. I'm sure all my dead relatives don't want me constantly dwelling over the past but rather have me move forward. I know I'd want that for my family.