As surprising as it might seem, Dr. Weinstein said that the interest in funding for his RiverTown Therapeutics venture had not come through so far (and he’s been at it for 4 years I think now). And now the biotech funding market is even worse than it had been for the past half decade - so I suspect it may not happen. I’m not sure why it is the case - I’m not a patent lawyer, but most of the compounds he has been using are generic drugs already, so no patent protection there. The one unique molecule, GPI 1485, has not gone through any sort of FDA approval, so thats a multi-year clinical study process that has yet to start. And, investors / VCs like to see younger founders with no gray hair - so ageism could also be a factor in him not getting funding yet.
Right now - the commercialization effort seems to be on hold, and so the only way you’re going to get this formulation in the next 4 or 5 years (minimum) is if you make it yourself.
I plan on probably trying it on my own and and will follow this thread. Given the immunosuppressant nature of one of the ingredients, it does give my some reservation but since it’s a topical I would think its not a huge risk factor.
As far as funding, forgive me if I’m conflating the two, but anti aging funding research funding in general is exploding at the moment so I’m hoping aesthetics gets swept up along with it. I know there are a ton of new biotechs popping up with hair loss research/potential products and there’s even a few that are looking into grey hair like Eirion Therapeutics which actually has something in their pipeline. I don’t expect anything before the 5 year marker you mentioned but I’m hoping there’s at least some beginning signs of momentum.
What’s annoying is that while greying is probably the #1 sign of cosmetic aging, it’s somehow brushed aside and not given the same attention as any other cosmetic aging symptom. Everything else either has some sort of product that partially works or there’s products in development. For this, it’s a cover up method of dye which is problematic for a host of reasons and that’s it.
I know the biologist at Alabama that Weinstein is working with (Melissa Harris) has done a lot of interviews on this topic so again, hopefully the tide is starting to turn.
In the meantime, hopefully this self made treatment works for us.
Interesting… I had not yet come across her name. Thanks for mentioning. You are right… lots of good interviews on the topic:
What does your latest research show about the ability to repigment gray hair?
Recently, we had the fortune of working with Rivertown Therapeutics, a company that has developed a combination drug that may combat age-related hair loss. Some of its work suggested that this drug is not only good for activating hair growth but might also support hair repigmentation. Using our gray-haired mouse models, we were able to show that topical application of this drug could indeed turn gray mice less gray! You could imagine our excitement to literally ‘see’ that change. Our initial study was published this summer, and we are eager to better understand the key mechanisms by which this drug works, which is what we are focusing on now.
What’s your realistic case estimate of how fast this therapy or something like it will be commercially available for humans? Still 5-10 years away?
“Bench to bedside” has an average timeframe of around 13 years. I’m purely a bench scientist, so it’s hard for me to predict exactly how long commercialization would take; however, with the speed of current research, I remain optimistic and hopeful that we will find effective solutions sooner rather than later.
In that last interview she points to this paper, a review of drugs that have reversed gray hair:
Medication-Induced Repigmentation of Gray Hair: A Systematic Review
Not so much I think. That is what Richard Weinstein seemed to suggest when I spoke with him - he said funding the the “cosmeceuticals” market was difficult (the market space which he placed RiverTown Therapeutics in). I think most of the big growth in funding for longevity science is focused on core hallmarks of aging, and the specific yamanaka factors, blood factors, small molecules that may slow the core rate of aging. As far as I can see it seems like a completely different investment market for superficial age related conditions like gray hair.
Hopefully that begins to change. Makes no sense to me that something like grey hair would be treated as a superficial issue and ignored while wrinkles, hair loss, skin, etc is treated otherwise.
We’ll see. In the meantime I will most likely be trying this serum. Looking forward to seeing your results
Also… any thoughts on the countless grey hair reversal accounts due to unrelated drug treatments?
Most commonly with immunosuppressants and cancer drugs. There’s a ton of accounts. There seems to be a mechanism that can indeed bring hair color back.
Here are some articles (I can only post two as a new user)–
I think so. There seem to be a million different names for that compound in common use - so I try to go by the CAS number, because that doesn’t change.
Note: Transcutol has a number of different chemical names/identifiers. Here is a list: 2-(2-Ethoxyethoxy)ethanol: Ethoxydiglycol, 3,6-dioxa-1-octanol, DEGEE, diethylene glycol monoethyl ether, Carbitol, Carbitol Cellosolve, Transcutol, Dioxitol, Polysolv DE, Dowanal DE
I have not done a deep dive into the literature. There are, as you say, a ton of case studies written up on this. Typically n=1, which doesn’t help guide us much. If anyone wants to dig into this topic and provide a high level summary for us, please post your results.
Here is where I would start:
Medication-Induced Repigmentation of Gray Hair: A Systematic Review
Thanks. I’m putting together a hair spray. Also interested in mixing up a skin cream. Sams Club is the cheapest for Minoxidil I’ve seen. I couldn’t find in in 2 sams stores but got it online. 6 two oz. bottles for slightly over $20 delivered. Costco is around $6 more when bought online. I couldn’t find it in 2 Costco stores.
I was wondering about this - do you think a dropper or spray application would be better?
I’m thinking a dropper would get more of the solution down to the scalp, whereas a spray might just put it on the hair. I guess if in the area you are applying it most of the hair is gone its not an issue, but for this I’m thinking you want to get to the roots (to get to the melanocyte stem cells) so any extra effort at getting it to the roots is a helpful thing…
I’m thinking of getting something like this, then putting the solution without minoxidil in here (thinking of trying one use case with only oral minoxidil, and another with topical and oral minoxidil).
I said spray but I’m doing a dropper. Hopefully it’s easier to get to the areas I want. I have finasteride on the way too. Now I want to locate low dose Minoxidil tablets.
This is very helpful, thank you. It seems there’s so many of these incidents popping up in the last few years. Blows my mind that there aren’t companies jumping all over it given the absolute goldmine a pharmaceutical would procure.
I’m not someone well versed in a lot of this and found my way to a lot of these forums simply in search of something that could help me with this condition of rather early grey hair.
From a novice POV, it seems to me that this would also be a super popular topic for the anti aging community in general to figure out simply because it’s the 1 example of an age related condition that’s been accidentally reversed countless of times and that is easier to study since it’s so visual. For example, you don’t get cases of Alzheimer’s curing themselves out of nowhere.
Here’s another really good article that echos those sentiments which people might enjoy–
The Arizona company selling finasteride wants to start selling low dose Minoxidil tablets. The problem is that they’re unable to give me a timeframe other than “soon”.
Some people are getting their regular doctors to prescribe it … and buying the 5mg tablets (which can easily be split in 1/2 or 1/4s) from Costco (only $11/for 90 tablets).
Looking at the typical minoxidil liquid packaging, I think its sold in 2oz containers and marketed that each container is good for 1 months use. So I figure a 3 or 4oz container of the pigmentation reversal formula would hold the required liquid, and may be good for about 1 month too.
After reading about low dose Minoxidil I called my Dr and asked his assistant to prescribe the 5 mg tablet. I told her I was going to break it into quarters when taking it. She said I pass this to the Dr. Two days later she calls me and says " Dr. S… says he talked to a Dermatologist associate and his recommendation was 1.5 mg a day". So Dr. S… has approved the 2.5 mg and request you break it half. He will only authorize 30 days and request you come in before he will authorize any additional pills. Guess I will go see him in 30 days and hope I have good news to report.
I’m wondering if there might be an additional opportunity for biohacking here, for significantly improved results…
There is a fairly new type of device launched by some MIT engineers last year that is called a “Droplette”.
Droplette is a unique consumer skin care system that transforms ingredient serums into an ultra-fine micro-droplet mist that painlessly absorbs up to 20-times deeper into the skin than topical serum application. Droplette technology heals from deep inside the skin, not outside on the surface of it, without requiring painful needles or harsh chemicals.
I’m wondering if this device (which is available for a few hundred dollars) could be used to increase absorption of the medications in a scalp / skin application (the company originally was started with medical applications in mind) not sure if it would work for the drug molecules used in the grey hair regimentation… need to do more research on molecular weight of the compounds…
From a Biohacker perspective, it seems like it would be easy to use the small containers that you can purchase from the company, repurposed with sirolimus solution and used for our purposes… seems like something to investigate more. I’ve started the analysis and have read up quite a bit…
Details on the device:
The Novopyxis device, known as Droplette, can be loaded with medications, from painkillers to antibiotics. Instead of coalescing into puddles on the skin’s surface, the tiny droplets that stream from the device remain separate and sneak through pores, ferrying drug molecules into the skin, the company says.
Three key innovations make this device technically novel and tailored specifically for both field and lab use: (1) The combination of the piezo and pump to generate sub-micron drug-loaded droplets that penetrate cells, skin, and soft tissue to effectively deliver a range of large molecules, proteins, and nucleic acids. (2) Their assembly in a modular manner which enables portability, safe sterilization, and ejection without direct device-surface contact or significant force, allowing for improved safety and ease of use in both research and clinical settings. (3) The integration of a single-use, sterile cartridge that contains a therapeutic formulation and allows easy integration of a large number of molecules. The platform has broad applications across multiple fields, such as delivery of drugs for inflammatory skin diseases, antibiotics for skin infections, and gene delivery for gene therapy and biomedical research.
