Note: Medically Reviewed by Bosley Medical Group
If cloning hair sounds wildly futuristic… turns out, the future might be here sooner than you’d think.
On March 8, 2024, Stemson Therapeutics and Aderans (the parent company of Bosley) announced a licensing deal, giving Stemson exclusive global rights to further Aderans’ proprietary hair regeneration cell therapy technology. This agreement marks an exciting step toward treating and perhaps eventually curing hair loss through the regenerative power of cell therapy.
Stemson announced plans to resume Aderans’ Phase 2 clinical-stage cell therapy hair regeneration program, integrate Aderans’ technology into their existing hair loss cell therapy development pipeline, and eventually provide multiple commercial products for patients experiencing hair loss.
How Does Hair Cloning Work?
Hair cloning is still in the early stages of research, but initial findings have been encouraging. Aderans’ proprietary hair regeneration platform is a cell therapy system that uses a patient’s hair and skin cells to rejuvenate shrinking hair follicles in patients with androgenetic alopecia (otherwise known as male or female pattern baldness). It repopulates functional hair follicle cells in early-to-mid-stage hair loss areas.
Aderans has conducted Phase 2 clinical testing on a sample of human patients – initial clinical data suggested that these regenerated hair follicle cells could safely produce long-lasting, durable hair growth results.
Stemson has focused primarily on iPSC-derived autologous cell therapy to regenerate healthy hair follicles and has seen promising results testing their findings on mice. With this merger. Stemson will leverage Aderans’ hair regeneration technology with their own.
Ken Washenik, M.D., Ph.D, Chief Medical Officer of Bosley and former Chief Executive Officer of Aderans Research Institute, is optimistic about the future of hair regeneration therapy. “Our pioneering work at the Aderans Research Institute to develop the first-ever cell therapy solution for hair loss showed tremendous promise in clinical trials to treat early-stage Androgenetic Alopecia in men and women. We believe Stemson, with their advanced expertise in hair follicle cell and tissue engineering, is ideally positioned to successfully complete development and commercialization of this exciting hair regeneration solution.”
As of yet, there are no existing therapeutic solutions capable of successfully cloning hair. But together with hair transplants, prescription hair loss medications, and cellular therapies, hair cloning may soon be another advanced, highly effective way to get your real hair back.
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