Aclaris Presentation, New Topical for Hair/Color Restore: Weekly Thoughts 6/9/16

Hello Everyone,

Welcome to another edition of Weekly Thoughts. This edition features a presentation update on the JAK inhibitor therapies for hair growth and the announcement of a new startup/treatment for hair growth that is also claimed to restore hair pigment. Wowzas. Let’s take a look.

Aclaris Therapeutics Jeffries Presentation

Acalaris Therapeutics CEO Dr. Neal Walker made a presentation on June 8, 2016 at the Jeffries 2016 Healthcare Conference displaying the current state and path ahead for Aclaris. Conferences like these are designed to attract investor attention for the respective companies who present at them. Things are looking good for Aclaris as they move forward and the news that was shared is the company is setting its sights on initiating a clinical trial for alopecia areata in the first half 2017. That would presumably mean that a clinical trial for a topical JAK inhibitor for the indication of androgenic alopecia would follow, but there has been no direct mention of it so far. One interesting tidbit from the presentation is that Aclaris has recently acquired the rights to some “Next Generation” JAK inhibitors which are covalently bonded. At this point I do not know what advantages they provide, but it sounds good.

This page contains both a recording of the webcast presentation and a link to the PDF presentation, just click on “webcast” next to the microphone. The webcast will be taken down after 14 days I believe. When watching the webcast it was necessary to manually change the slides to sync with the presentation. We look forward to hearing about new progress from Aclaris.

RiverTown Therapeutics and the What?

This is definitely one of the most interesting things I’ve read in a while. According to this presentation description, RiverTown Therapeutics has a new compound named RT1640 in the works that grows hair in bald areas, also restores hair pigment, is made from three agents that have strong safety profiles, and has been tested in seven humans so far. lol. That’s a lot. Here is the full paragraph:

“RiverTown Therapeutics is a clinical stage startup with a novel, topically applied prescription product that promotes the recruitment of new hair follicles, and/or rejuvenates existing follicles that have become dormant in humans with androgenic alopecia. The lead compound, RT1640 is a combination of three agents that together have thousands of people/years exposure in humans with excellent safety profiles. When applied to areas of hair loss (scalp, eyebrows, beard) RT1640 promotes the reanimation of hair follicles through the recruitment and differentiation of follicular stem cells, including melanocyte stem cells. As a result of these events, new hair grows over the bald areas. In addition, if the subject had achromotrichia (gray or white hair from color-loss) before hair loss, it grows back as pigmented hair. RT1640 has been tested in scores of animals and on seven humans with androgenic alopecia, all of whom have responded with hair growth. There are several follow-on indications beyond androgenic alopecia, including wound healing and idiopathic pulmonary fibrosis. All of the technologies rely on the company’s proprietary technology of recruitment and differentiation of stem cells in situ.”

The company has been founded by Dr. David Weinstein who has an extensive biotech background including founding GliaMed Inc. and being CSO to Intekrin Therapeutics. I hope to have more on this development soon. (S/O Xaser94)

That Ultimate Guide to Hair Regeneration 2016 is due for a makeover and is going to be getting pretty crowded soon.

25 Comments

  1. Chris2 on June 10, 2016 at 4:20 am

    Haha nice. Keep filling up that goto hair bible and one day bam we are paying for haircuts again. Keep on keeping things positive and we will live longer to enjoy our hair . Just came from other forums and the negativity really brings you down Just because there has been no news doesn’t mean they are dead. Some of these people have to realize 4 to 8 years of school out weighs google search engine all the way.



    • Follicle Thought on June 10, 2016 at 11:55 am

      Sounds good Chris!



  2. cornil on June 10, 2016 at 10:34 am

    Yes the CEO mentionned that a news type of jak inhibitor will be focused on androgenic alopecia !!!!
    Have a look on hairlossby 2020.

    Let’s cross ours fingers



  3. Catherine Davies on June 10, 2016 at 4:53 pm

    Does Rivertown therapeutics have an email address?



    • Follicle Thought on June 10, 2016 at 6:39 pm

      Hi Catherine,
      No, it appears they are a very new startup and do not even have a website up yet.

      Thanks
      Joseph



      • hlscc on June 11, 2016 at 7:27 pm

        Admin when do u expect them to go market? And what is the mechanism of this product and does it provide good density?



        • hlscc on June 11, 2016 at 7:49 pm

          And also how can they be in phase 2 and no result photos are available so far ??



          • Follicle Thought on June 12, 2016 at 2:50 pm

            The photos are probably kept private for the company. At this point there is not anymore known info about their release date and product. If I receive something from the CEO I will let you all know for sure.



    • baldings1 on June 24, 2016 at 12:27 pm


  4. İnternationallove on June 10, 2016 at 8:13 pm

    Very nice, very soon I hope this problem will be solved. by the way, Kelopecia Will be released after 5 months. @Admin



    • Follicle Thought on June 10, 2016 at 8:55 pm

      Thanks very much. November would be a great release date for the product.



      • Louis Samuels on June 12, 2016 at 7:20 pm

        Please i want Kelopesia and another treatments the same think millions of men and women with androgenetic alopecia (aa). We need a new treatment to treat AA.

        Thanks for your work Joseph!



    • tizana on June 11, 2016 at 12:17 am

      how did you know that ??



  5. josh on June 12, 2016 at 6:57 pm

    I heard than jaks could be something close to a cure…the problem is that again, we have to wait, probably 5 years but i m not sure cuase jaks is already aprobe , hope to have soon news about release.
    For kelopesia is nothing officiall, i still don´t know if the delay is real and how many time will take it for be launched.



  6. josh on June 12, 2016 at 7:02 pm

    And, maybe i am wrong but we dont need more than Histogen follica ( follica can even create follicles) replicel sammumed etc, we just need something in our hands, now , that my opinion, the problem is not solutions , they will come on 2018-2019 the problem is that we need somethin for use now, again the long waiting is the worst part of this.



  7. Anonymous Scientist on June 13, 2016 at 2:16 pm

    Very cool updates thanks for doing all you do.

    Aclaris is moving pretty fast for a drug company if they can get the IND filed and Phase 1/2 started within a year. I have a few under my belt and 18-24 months is an average time frame. Way to go Aclaris.

    The covalently bound small molecules usually have a longer half-life, and so they can provide increased bioactivity, often by protecting the molecule from degradation in the body. So it makes the same drug work even better.



  8. Sam on June 14, 2016 at 4:54 pm

    Histogen, follica, follicum, SM, Replicel, JAK, SETI, Bim, Brotzu, Kelopesia, Rivertown, biologics MD, theracell, tsuji, CB-03-01, some of my favorites.. Guys I think it’s time to dump pessimism.. Companies have been looking for new markets to grow into and it looks like AGA is the next big thing now it’s just patience till the first one comes out



  9. Cris on June 18, 2016 at 11:17 am

    any news about kelopesia? Thanks Admin!

    Cheers



    • Follicle Thought on June 18, 2016 at 5:53 pm

      I hear some people on here say it will be out in within 5 months and I’ve heard elsewhere it will be January 2017. We’ll have to wait and see, maybe it will come sooner.



      • Dazlakkel on June 24, 2016 at 7:00 am

        Hey admin !! Where is new news ?



  10. Cris on June 23, 2016 at 7:02 pm

    why the delay? it’s works or not?



  11. tizana on June 29, 2016 at 10:30 pm

    new article released today 29 june where Mr. David Weinstein the Executive Director of RiverTown Therapeutics says :

    “Hair regeneration and maintenance are complex processes that involve multiple pathways. The components in RT1640 restart the hair growth process and support the nascent and mature hair. The net result is the growth of new hair, even after decades of baldness,”

    http://finance.yahoo.com/news/rivertown-therapeutics-6degrees-share-best-134500258.html



  12. MattyIce on July 25, 2016 at 4:20 am

    Anything new??



    • JM on January 14, 2017 at 5:18 pm

      I contacted Rivertown for more information on the product reversing premature gray hair. Their response – Thank you for reaching out and for your interest in RT1640, while we have not completed our clinical trials, we do believe that RT1640 can reverse achromotricia (grey hair). Please check back and we will be updating our timeline for RT1640 to get to market. Thanks again. I asked when they would start clinical trials – We believe by the end of the first quarter. My question is, if this is possible, when can we expect to see it available for purchase?



      • Follicle Thought on January 16, 2017 at 4:47 pm

        JM thanks for the great news! If they start clinical trials 1st quarter 2017, my guess (just a guess) would be somewhere around early 2019 for release.



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