Update: April 28, 2025
Interview with Replicel CSO Kevin McElwee
I almost never update a post from the early years of this blog. But rather than writing yet another brief new post on Replicel (Canada), I am updating this old post due to the below new HairDAO interview with Replicel’s Chief Scientific Officer (CSO) Dr. Kevin McElwee (h/t “Jan Miedza”).
Dr. McElwee and Dr. Rolf Hoffmann (Germany) are credited with making the original discovery behind Replicel’s RCH-01 dermal sheath cup (DSC) cell therapy for pattern baldness. They published a study on this in 2013.
Note that Replicel’s ex-licensing partner Shiseido already released a version of this technology in 2024 in Japan. But it looks like Replicel is still not done and will try to conduct a Phase 2 trial in Europe, dependent on new funding. Early on in the interview, I think Dr. McElwee mentions using both lower level dermal sheath cells in addition to DSC cells in an improved process. Someone please verify and post the time stamp in the comments as I do not want to re-watch the video!
I discussed Dr. McElwee a number of times in the past due to his over 25 years of presence in the hair loss world. Besides being a researcher, he used to run an excellent hair related informational site with hair loss discussion forums at keratin.com, but it disbanded for a few years. It then got reincarnated as a hair loss blog and is still run by Dr. McElwee and his company McElwee Consulting.
Key quote from Dr. Kevin McElwee towards the end of the interview (slightly modified):
“I think Dr. Tsuji’s approach is the right kind of thing.”
I am delighted to hear this since I was among the first ones to get on the Dr. Takashi Tsuji bandwagon when I wrote about him over a decade ago. And because Dr. Tsuji later estimated a cure in 2020 just like I estimated, though he later had to fold his company and restart with OrganTech. Even more interesting, Dr. Tsuji will be interviewed by HairDAO soon. Amazing work by these guys if it comes to fruition.
October 24, 2014
Check out this excellent new RepliCel CEO David Hall podcast interview.
Replicel CEO David Hall Interview
In the interview with James West, Mr. David Hall essentially seems to be claiming that this is a complete cure once the main challenges regarding dosage and frequency are resolved. I now have second thoughts about Histogen’s recent presentation, where they suggest superior results to Replicel.
Regarding their trials, Dr. Hall summarizes that Replicel did a 16 patient Phase 1 study. This is the basis of the data that the company is now using for its Phase 2 study. The same data is also being used by Shiseido in Japan for their pending clinical trials.
In the 16-patient safety trial, Replicel saw an average density growth in 6 months of 11.8%. In comparison, the very best you get with the current drug therapies of Minoxidil (Rogaine) is 16%. And with dihydrotestosterone (DHT) inhibitor Finasteride, about 14%. Moreover, those results are over a lengthier 12-month period of time.
The next step for Replicel is a 160-patient trial that will measure injection frequency and dosage. The reason this could be a complete cure is because they use the hair cells at the back of the head that are completely androgen insensitive. i.e. what is deemed as the permanent donor zone in hair transplants.
You take those permanent hair cells, replicate them, and then inject them into the frontal and crown balding regions of the scalp. In effect, you now have a full scalp of hair that is not susceptible to balding from the ravages of androgens and DHT.