On May 18 of this year, Shiseido held a grand opening for a new center dedicated to research for restoring hair called SPEC, Cell Processing and Expansion Center within the Kobe Biomedical Innovation Cluster. This event was attended by government representatives, physicians, dignitaries and corporate partners.
Shiseido has partnered with Repli Cel through a technical collaboration agreement, acquiring a license to use a proprietary concept product called RCH-01 in Asia.
RCH-01 was developed by Repli Cel Life Sciences Incorporated. It is a bioventure company cased in Canada. They developed a proprietary method for regenerating hair called, RCH-01.
How Does RCH-01 Restore Hair
In RCH-01, dermal sheath cup (DSC) cells from the base of the hair follicle are isolated. They are then cultured in a lab and then injected back into the scalp. This is intended to stimulate hair follicles and enable them to grow new hair shafts.
Different departments within the new center have been assigned to execute the different phases of the the RCH-01 hair restoration technology. This includes:
(1) conducting punch biopsies on the back of the scalp to extract DSC cells
(2) replicating the cells
(3) administering patient treatments.
Regulation of Standards for Regenerative Medicine in Japan
Regenerative medicine is a central part of Japan’s plans for economic reform. The nation has passed new laws dedicated to facilitating clinic research as well as trial applications that would normally take a much longer to complete. This would also help promote new forms of competitive advantages across the globe.
Japan passed the Regenerative Medicine Law back in November of 2013. This helps ensure high safety standards for applications of this field within the nation. Also the government added revisions to its Pharmaceutical Affairs Law to improve upon existing timelines for achieving developmental goals within the area of regenerative medicine, as well as to advance the commercialization of new applications.
Research For Restoring Hair
Individuals who are interested in new treatments for addressing pattern baldness are highly advised to understand the basic components of research studies. The clinical studies for RCH-01 are interesting to learn about, in terms of gaining familiarity with the processes of formal research. There are other forms of research being conducted at other leading centers throughout the world. Understanding general concepts of these initiatives is important to the education of anyone who is interested in pursuing hair restoration for their own personal needs.
Basic elements include:
(1) Having a substantial number of subjects. More reliable conclusions can be derived from a greater number of participants
(2) The independent variable, which is a single causal factor being investigated.
(3) A statistical analysis of the final data to determine if the changes or effects that were observed were significant enough. Without this standard, the occurrences are likely to be due to chance, and not the independent variable.
Through this general understanding, regular consumers can better evaluate different types of treatments for restoring hair to make sound decisions.
