5mo ago

Did UCLA Just Cure Baldness?

newsroom.ucla.edu

Futurology @futurology.today

Lugh @futurology.today

2d ago

Did UCLA Just Cure Baldness? - How Bruin genetic scientists are reawakening hibernating follicles.

newsroom.ucla.edu /magazine/baldness-cure-pp405-molecule-breakthrough-treatment

In My Mind @lemmy.dbzer0.com

SnokenKeekaGuard @lemmy.dbzer0.com

4w ago

Did UCLA Just Cure Baldness?

newsroom.ucla.edu /magazine/baldness-cure-pp405-molecule-breakthrough-treatment

82 comments

Through UCLA’s Technology Transfer Group, which transforms brilliant research into global market products, the scientists have co-founded a medical development company called Pelage Pharmaceuticals
In case you were curious how this publicly funded research is going to be turned into private profits.
- I don't think UCLA is going to produce retail products themselves.
  
  They could always make the research and processes public domain, so no one person can unilaterally profit.
  But that's not what they did, and that's the problem.
- I think this is pretty standard procedure no? Lots of small companies are spin-outs from universities
Hair loss is caused by a multitude of factors, including aging, stress, hormonal imbalances and bad genetics.
“Bad” genetics?! Damn, that’s a little fucking judgmental for what is ultimately just a cosmetic issue.
- PUT ON THE WIG DEGENERATE
- Better watch out, when the king of the US government is done with all the queers and chronically ill the baldies are next.
  
  the baldies are next.
  Ugh, finally...
- I think people forget that not all populations benifit from more hair
- If the topic is undesired head hair loss, "bad" appropriately describes the genes that may contribute to that. The discussion is limited by the context to avoiding hair loss, it isn't a universal conversation on cosmetics
  
  Yes if you 100% swallow the cultural requirement to have a full head of hair, then not having one is bad. But I don’t expect a journalist or academician to write from such a culturally specific point of view.
- It just means you have too much testosterone.
- When my head is freezing and I don’t have a hat handy I’m pretty sure that’s not a cosmetic issue.
  
  I rocked long hair from grade school to my mid 20s.
  Then, a lady friend (platonic) sat me down and had a talk with me.
  The thinning, now seemingly always greasy, strands of hair was not a good look. Like, don't visit a playground or I would be arrested on site lol.
  So, being a metal head there are two main options, or at least were at the time. Long hair. Or take bare clippers to it.
  So, I did.
  That first winter fucking suuuucked. Still to this day, I tend to rock a hoody in cold weather, and toss my hood up to cover my head for warmth when outdoors.
  Sometimes I let it grow out for about a month before taking clippers to it again, out of sheer laziness. A month of growth, from shaved, isn't much in the way of hair, but temperature wise it is very noticeable.
  
  Yeah that’s a you forgetting your hat issue. Poor memory due to bad genetics. Damn you have all kinds of problems.
- It’s not just cosmetic. Hair keeps the heat from escaping the head so quickly and, more importantly, it helps keep the head from getting sunburned and skin cancer.
  
  You’re going to tell me that people are applying Rogaine so they don’t have to apply sunscreen? Hm yeah that is a well thought out argument when Rogaine is 10x more expensive.
  No. The male hair loss remedy industry is entirely built around cosmetic vanity, not keeping warm.
  I can sit here and tell you how hair can be host to different parasites or impair your vision while driving or get caught and pulled into power tools and is therefore a bad survival trait.
  But let’s not be absolute morons.
I started losing my hair when I was a teenager, so I’ve been bald for most of my life. I’ve been shaving my head for decades because it’s the only way my head and face don’t look absurd. I’m totally used to it, and long ago accepted that I’d never have hair on my head again.
But I’d be lying if I said I didn’t want my hair back.
If this turns out to be legit and works on most people, there could be a worldwide explosion of self-esteem in adults.
- As someone that has also been bald since I was a teenager, I've also gotten used to it. I've accepted my fate and I'm fine with being bald.
  But at the same time do you ever have those dreams where you have hair again and get super excited about it? Like straight up Jesus hair.
  
  100%
  I’ve had dreams where my long locks were dramatically blowing in the wind, only to wake up and run my hands through my…well shit, that’s just my scalp.
Answer: kind of, as long you keep applying the substance you will regrow all the hair that you have lost and maintain it
- That's the problem I've always had with baldness remedies. Shaving my head every other week takes less effort and saves money. Plus I've been bald since highschool so I'm kinda used to it at this point.
  
  Saves money sure, but every other week? I have to buzz it twice a week to keep it short enough to not look terrible. That's enough effort that I'd rather apply a regular treatment.
  Not like a daily "keep doing it or you lose all progress" treatment, but maybe like a "use it more or less daily and it'll grow back" treatment.
  
  Same. I feel like I’d look so weird with hair now.
- So rogain or whatever it's called
  
  But it actually works
- Hair loss remedies are always criticized on the grounds that you need to continue using them to continue seeing the benefits.
  I don’t know why this complaint surfaces for hair loss medications in particular, when a lot of things are like this. Insulin. Depression drugs. All supplements. Etc.
- keep applying for how long? Forever?
  
  Until you're ready for your old man era, presumably.
No
Is Betteridges Law dead?
They didn't and this doesn't work as intended. They did however create a company to cash in on desperate people.
- Reminds me of the time Vivek Ramaswamy bilked investors for over a billion with a phoney Alzeheimer's drug
  he helmed the leadership of Roivant, a multi-billion-dollar American pharmaceutical company he founded, and gallantly relinquished his CEO role in 2021 due to his unwavering stance against ESG principles, despite facing opposition from his liberal workforce. While this narrative might seem appealing, it is akin to the endless "flip-flops" that have plagued his campaign—an elaborate work of fiction that unravels upon a modicum of scrutiny.
  Let's start with the basics. Ramaswamy has funded his campaign through the sale of over $32 million in Roivant stock options in February of this year. This could lead one to believe that Roivant, based in Bermuda, is thriving and that Ramaswamy is a great entrepreneur. Except the company reported staggering losses of $1.2 billion in its financial report of March 2023. This isn't a one-time slump: In March 2022, when Ramaswamy was still Roivant's chairman and a major shareholder, the company reported an annual loss of $924.1 million.
  Ramaswamy's defenders may argue that Roivant performed better during his tenure as CEO in 2021, but alas, the numbers tell a different story. The reality is that Roivant's finances were abysmal under Ramaswamy's watch. During his tenure in 2019, the company's net operating loss exceeded $530 million. By 2020, the losses had doubled to over $1 billion, accompanied by a 65 percent decline in revenue.
- This is always the answer.
I don't need to read an article to know that "no" is the correct answer the question in the title.
Cool, but if this does work maybe in 10 years it will be easily accessible , Iam already going bald right now, sure it would be nice to have an option down the line.
One thing to keep in mind growing up in this age, a lot of things being developed or in the news now, simply won't be accessible or relevant within my lifetime.
- Dude, if this upsets you, consider that there are promising signs we may be able to significantly slow or even reverse aging itself within the next 50 years.
  This means that it will have taken humanity 10 or 20 thousand generations, since our origins, to achieve immortality. But you, me, and everyone reading this is going to miss out on that by about 2.
  
  I don’t intend to be dead in the bext 50 years.
I'm bald and started shaving my head as soon as I noticed it was thinning (19 yrs old). I like the lack of maintenance and I think I look good with a bald head. \o/
Wouldn't change it tbh.
- Lack of maintenance? Don't you have to shave your head regularly?
  
  Sure, but no need for combs, hair product, trips to the barber... I shave my face in the shower, and just keep going.
- I’m with you but I would like the option honestly since I’ve been bald for over 30 years. Never having a bad hair day and razors being cheaper than haircuts are definitely a plus. But hitting your head on anything is almost always some sort of gash.
  But damn if I don’t have dreams sometimes of running my fingers through my hair.
  
  So true. Haired people don't realise that their haircut is a helmet.
- Hey, I'm glad you can pull it off! I would look really weird with a shaved head. I would think there's still maintenance involved though. How often do you have to shave it?
  
  It depends how shiny you want to keep it.
  I do mine every 3 days, but it's quality podcast time.
  Razor blades cost pennies. So cheap.
  
  I think 95% of people would look better bald than holding on to thinning hair. I shave daily because I like it smooooth, but it only takes a few minutes in the shower.
Sweet, so in thirty years I might be able to use this!
Baldness doesn't need to be "cured". There are many many actual diseases where people need real help.
Unfortunately capitalism completely degrades and perverts science/technology in order to make a quick buck, rather than actually helping humanity escape impending doom.
Can’t speak to the effectiveness of the baldness cure, but the model in the stock photo has cured ED, I am sure.
Idiocracy was prophetic, just way too optimistic in the timeline.
Finasteride effectively cured male pattern balding already. It's safe and effective, the only downside is that you need to keep taking it
- It also impacts libido
  
  In a small percentage of people, and I was among those. It's not permanent, because finasteride increases testosterone, which can convert to estrogen
- It's also only preventative, seems like this is more reversal.
  
  It reversed hair loss for me, I used to have a bald spot and I don't have one anymore.
Thought this said blindness for a second. Was confused by the comments
- grow hair on eye balls
  
  I can't find a gif of it, so I'd just like everyone to imagine that I posted that scene from the SpongeBob Movie where a worker sprays a can of hair onto King Neptune's eyes.

82 comments