Follicum has now finished an important preclinical study on human scalp skin biopsies which have been transplanted to SCID-mice (mice with compromised immunological defence where human skin can survive and grow). The results are all in line with the findings which previously have been communicated after short-term in vitro studies on parts of human skin performed by Professor Ralf Paus laboratory in Münster. These results show that Follicum’s candidate drug FOL-005 strongly inhibits hair growth.
Dr Jan Alenfall, CEO, comments: “This is an important piece of the puzzle to understand the long-term effect of our substance on human tissue. The results show strong inhibition of hair growth, which also the short-term studies on human skin clearly show. With this long-term study on human tissue we can now start preparing the clinical study. The results further strengthen our belief in FOL-005 in the clinical studies. We have not seen any negative effects during this treatment and together with the toxicological studies this will strongly support our planned application for a clinical study.”
Professor Amos Gilhar, Skin Research Laboratory, Technion, Israel Institute of Technology, comments: “A study that has been performed in our laboratory to detect the trichogenic effect of FOL-005 on human scalp skin transplanted onto SCID mice, demonstrated a strong hair growth inhibitory effect. The results are encouraging also because the ability of FOL-005 to strongly block the hair growth stimulatory effects of minoxidil, one of the best-recognized hypertrichosis– inducing agents in clinical medicine.”