Everything To Know About Hair Cloning News In 2020 – Part 1

Hair Treatments That Are Touching The Roof

Novel technologies currently being researched for the treatment of hair loss is hair cloning and hair multiplication. 

Extracting healthy hair follicle cells from a patient and cultivating multiple copies of them in vitro is the concept of cloning hair. Where they resume their normal growth, the multiplied cells are then placed back into the balding scalp. 

Here we break down the process of hair cloning, with the latest research on the topic expecting to see hair cloning procedures to become available to the public. 

What is Hair Cloning (Hair Multiplication)?

Proposed to work along similar lines to actual cloning, is hair multiplication coming with the creation of identical copies of entire organisms, as the hair multiplication is about making massive numbers of copies of individual hairs. 

Hair cloning /hair multiplication are umbrella terms at this point. There is no standard method yet as this is a technology still in its infancy. Regardless of which clinic you visit, it is unlike existing hair transplants as you will get one of the same two basic methods like FUE or FUT. 

We are still at a stage where various research centres as well as companies around the world are pursuing their own and very often different versions of hair multiplication in hair cloning. It is still up for grabs where one of these different technologies eventually mature first and come to dominate the market. 

There is a fundamental difference that sets apart all hair multiplication technologies from the hair transplants already available, but regardless of the particular technology used. 

Redistributing the existing number of healthy hair follicles on the scalp is the standard hair transplants of today. By removing follicles from the hairy areas in the back and sides of the head, and planting then into balding areas is the process. 

Only so many follicles can be removed before the hair density in the donor area drops to cosmetically unacceptable levels as there are clear limits to this process. 

To increase the total number of follicles on your scalp, hair multiplication uses the existing hair follicles. Here there is no theoretical limit as to how many times the single follicle is multiplied. 

When Hair Multiplication Quite Literally Holds The Promise Of Unlimited Hair?

Even if you are a completely bald Norwood 7, a hair multiplication process in principle could be able to restore a full head of hair.

Involving hair follicle stem cells is the major focus in many of the hair multiplication technologies. According to the type of treatment they undergo, with the ability to develop and multiply into many different numbers of cell types, these are relatively undifferentiated cells. These, therefore, include skin cells, sebaceous gland cells as well as new hair follicles. 

A special case of cell therapy is hair multiplication: to treat a medical problem, the use of the patient’s own cells. For decades, we have already had cell therapies in other diseases. In the treatment of various blood cancers, the patient’s own cells are used to recreate the entire immune system essentially after it has been damaged by chemotherapy for example. 

With constant advance of technology, cell therapy is now being explored for the treatment of non-threatening cosmetic conditions as it’s only to be expected. Similar to hair loss.

What Are The Advantages Of Hair Cloning?

There are three popular ways to treat thinning and balding at the moment. 

Hereby the first is done using an FDA- approved medication similar to Rogaine or Propecia. Though there is a risk of adverse effects including impotence and contact dermatitis these drugs are effective.

These are by no means new treatments, having been on the market for many decades now despite the deceptive advertisement used by many expensive hair loss clinics. 

Secondly, a popular treatment involves the use of tonics or some other hair products containing natural ingredients similar to pygeum and saw palmetto extract. There is a limit to how much new hair they can grow, as they work via natural means. 

Potentially a more lasting solution and thirdly is to undergo hair transplant surgery. Earlier it was mentioned about the limits of these procedures, as they are also very costly often leaving scarring.

It is observed that hair cloning is preferably likely to all these methods.  

• They come with minimal risk of visible scarring
• No hidden side effects observed
• A comparatively short procedure

Not a limiting factor is the number of healthy follicles in the donor area. Whether they suffer from female pattern hair loss or other conditions like alopecia areata it will be equally effective for women. A successful hair cloning procedure could theoretically yield permanent results to top it off. 

In 2020, What’s The State Of The Field?

Over the past 15 years, many private companies and universities have had their own hair multiplication research program. The list includes those like Berlin Technical University, Durham University, Intecytex, Hairclone, Riken Centre for Developmental Biology, and RepliCel Life Sciences.

To Have A Look At Them In More Detail

Making headlines by announcing they had used stem cells to create new hair follicles in mice, where the researchers at Berlin Technical University in 2010. The technical obstacles proved insurmountable despite the researcher's ambition to replicate this feat in humans. 
The private sector is now leading the charge to bring the first viable hair multiplication technologies to market, as similar research programs in other universities also died out. 

Winding down operations some years back was one of the early more promising companies like Intercytex. Now heading a new company called Hairclone is the company’s former CEO. Whereby members of the general public can invest in the company in exchange for equity and membership perks, in 2018 Hairclone launched a crowdfunding campaign. 

Hairclone launched the world’s first-ever hair follicle bank just last year as men and women can store the follicles for future use with the hair multiplication technology has now matured. The younger versions of the hair will give the best results in the future as the rationale of the hair bank is quality of hair declines with age 

There has been no date offered as to when they expect their first patient to be able to use the stored hair cells in Hairclone. 

Finally, What Is The Development In The Hair Cloning Process?

In recent years, RepliCel Life Sciences comes as a company boasting one of the most active research programs. In the hair loss community, it has arguably drawn the most attention.

Teaming up with a Japanese company Shiseido, RepliCel promotes their hair multiplication method called RCH-01 planning to launch in Japan firstly. 

Using a part of the follicle containing so-called dermal sheath cup cells is the RCH-01 technology as the cells once removed from the back of the patient’s head have been cultivated in massive numbers thereby injected back to the balding areas. 

They were underwhelming, to say the least as Shiseido published the results of phase 2 research carried out in Japan in March 2020.