A clinical trial has begun for HairCell, a startup in the Leonhardt Ventures portfolio which seeks to rejuvenate hair using bioelectric stimulation and biologics.
Leonhardt Ventures is a regenerative medtech company which is developing around 30 startup companies for various types of organ regeneration and recovery. The core technology of all of these companies is based on administering bioelectric signaling to the body, along with the delivery of different biologic cocktails (stem cells, PRP, amniotic fluid, etc).
What exactly is bioelectric signaling, you might ask? Essentially, it works like this: your body naturally uses its own bioelectric signals to repair and maintain its tissue structure. When you scrape your knee your body sends a real-time signal to your knee to begin releasing specific proteins to repair and rebuild the skin there. Howard Leonhardt, founder of Leonhardt Ventures, and his team have identified and recreated these signals through technology and can apply them “on demand” to various organs or tissues to recreate the body’s natural regenerative processes.
On December 5, 2018, Leonhardt Ventures published new “2018 Elevator Pitches” on its website for all of the companies within its development portfolio. The elevator pitch for HairCell reads as follows: “Launched clinical study in South Africa and about to launch in other locations. Targeting 30% hair density growth.” That’s a sizable target. Upon further review of the HairCell website, a new video demonstrating the HairCell technology being used on a patient has been posted to the front page. See video below.
The doctor in the video is FUE hair surgeon Dr. Catherine Davies of the Rejuv-nation hair clinic in South Africa. She is currently leading the clinical trial of HairCell. Howard Leonhardt has told Follicle Thought that initial clinical results of HairCell will be shared within the next several months. I’m certainly looking forward to that, the patient in the video looked like an ideal candidate to recover lost density. I also find it exciting that other HairCell trial locations will be launching soon. Stay tuned for updates on the initial results of HairCell.