74th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, March 4-8 2016

The American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) will hold its 74th Annual Meeting between March 4 and March 8 in Washington DC. The schedule has around a dozen presentations involving scalp hair, although most seem pretty generic.

Not surprisingly, on the hair forums, only one presentation is garnering any kind of discussion: Samumed’s 12 minute summary of phase II clinical trial results of its SM04554 topical hair loss product.

It should be noted that Samumed already presented some favorable findings about its phase II trials towards the end of last year.  See my summary of that news here.  I am not expecting anything particularly impressive in this latest presentation, but would be more than happy to be wrong

You can follow the AAD on Twittter here.  Samumed will probably add its presentation summary on its media page after the conference is over.

FYI: Several people e-mailed me about this conference and posted comments about it in the last blog post.  Thanks to those people, but please try to only e-mail me news that you know is not covered widely on the hair loss forums.  I check those forums almost every day!  If you have a unique take on something, feel free to e-mail me.

85 thoughts on “74th Annual Meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, March 4-8 2016”

  1. Let’s hope they will have some exciting results to present. This company ticks all the boxes and I am very hopeful they will surprise a lot of us.

  2. Go Samumed!!! Man this is gonna be interesting. Just give us something better than Fin or Minox. Im okay with something I have to use every day as long af I dont get sexual sides.

  3. Ahhh I can’t wait to hear the results. I really do hope results are good. In my opinion, I feel like it may be good news. I doubt they would be opening for this meeting, or presenting at all if it was bad. And if it only worked as efficiently as rogaine, I doubt they would be pushing so hard, or even have investors. So hopefully these are good signs that maybe it can halt loss and regrow a good chunk!

  4. These guys are a tight lipped bunch. Their twitter account is inactive and pretty much naught about them on twitterdom. A couple of their employees are tweeting random stuff but nothing about the company.

    I like the way they handle their business. Fingers crossed they’ll deliver the goods on the 5th of March. I’ve got a good hunch we’ll be in for a good surprise.

  5. Sanctus – rogaine without losing its efficiency and no side effects is definitely something, but I doubt there would be any investors willing to put there money in it with all the other treatments coming out in the near future. Histogen alone would crush it, and the results for that dont even look particularly impressive. Guess we just have to wait and see lol. I am curious how rogaine + SM would work together. Two regrowth topicals with different courses of action? Come on march 5th! Lol

  6. @Athmane, I so *ucking hope your right. Also, they were very specific in their World hairloss presentation about not wanting so talk about the actual molecule and content of their product. Thinking like an optimist this could be because they really have something which they dont wanna reveal until its ready.

  7. The admin doesn’t seem as confident in the likelihood of anything surprising coming out in the conference. I wonder why that is.

  8. I think Samumed will be better than histogen, without the photoshop games. They seem much more professional than any other company so far and have worked through trials without delays. The fact they are the first ones to present at the conference March 5th is a very good sign. The thing that gives me confidence in them is that they can create new follicles and that they test on high Norwoods. Let’s see what they present in a couple weeks.

    1. What makes you say they have been more professional than any other company so far? I am not contradicting you; I am just asking so I can understand. Thanks.

      1. Hi Ddog, I sat that they are more professional because everything they have stated has to come to reality. They haven’t stalled or prolonged announcements like histogen or replicel. They seem to have a working product and are working quickly to promote and show their results..I guess I should they are more professional than histogen or better yet quicker. I hope that made sense haha

  9. Phase II wasnt 3 months anyway, I thought it was longer than that. And I thought they even extended it by a couple months?

    1. Hard to guess. It only mentions that it is safe and peoples perceived response to the treatment.

      Has anyone seen their in vitro experiments? Any photos?

  10. If phase II was good then they’ll announce they will go ahead with phase III. That’s about the only thing I’m expecting from them at this point.
    Whatever the result is, it’s going to be worded to sound positive anyway.

  11. If the results are good enough we must make demostration or even better a rebellion in the us or worldwide bold men must be united in this to push the goverment pass the 21century cure act emediatly

  12. No AA treatment has gone into phase 3 testing since Propecia 25 years ago. If they announce phase 3 it will be momentous.

    1. Hi spank I’m on Propecia for 7 yrs. Maintained well but now hair is thinning again:( . It works use it, but doesn’t last forever, at least for me it didn’t lol. I’ve been on Rogaine for a year with some growth but it looks like that isn’t strong enough anymore. Hair is thinning from that too or its a Rogaine shed at year 1 lol. We need something new akready

  13. Guys, this could be very promising. However remember that it could be years off release even after phase 3. They need to look at distribution, mass production or work with the authorities to make necessary changes to the product for mass consumption. I’m not being negative, just realistic! I think we’re looking at 2018 at the earliest here (if it gets approval).

  14. @Fonzerelli, your probably right, but could also be slightly wrong. I mean, who knows how and what they are working on behind the curtains. The race for a new treatment is going faster than ever these days, or so it seems. Im thinking that they already have ppl working on a plan getting this ready for mass distribution as fast as possible. We are all creatures of habit and its common knowlege that we often have a hard time switching from 1 product from another unless we are 100% sure it will benefit us. So, of all the companies working on something new it really matters to be the first to release something.

    1. This can turn out to be very useful and make finally possible to grow and multiply follicles without donor limitation. The biggest hurdle to accomplish that has always been the fact that the dermal papilla cells lose their inductivity, their power to develop themselves and grow normally. With this now they can overcome this problem and possibly, in the future, maybe not too far, this will be the revolution, the tool that will make hair cloning or hair multiplication a reality!! finally!!

  15. Hi admin, I want to thank you for the great work you do with this web. I can get very anxious/depressed surfing through some forums, so having all this information gathered, it really means a lot to me.

    So just that, I cannot thank you enough for what you do and I wanted to express it.

  16. @fonzerelli, Paul and spanky, I am feeling hopeful after going through the comments you three have made. Remember, there is someone who really cares, there is someone who really hears our cry, god is waiting for us to call.

    1. yeah, he cares… In 60.00000000 years of mankind just right now HE has listened to these 10000000 billion poor bald souls through the times, and with all the calamities and plagues and diseases and suffering around, He finally will give His attention to… the baldies… oh really??

      1. What planet have you been living on? 1000000000 billion bald souls? Earth has only had 108 billion people (let alone bald) total… And how many years of mankind? This hyperbolic language is why talking about this topic is so draining. There isn’t anything constructive added, just jibberish and outlandish statements.

        Thanks to everyone who posts links to articles, videos and photos that add something to the conversation instead of just taking.

        Looking forward to what Samumed has to add to the conversation and the good news that has been coming out over the past year (Histogen, Replicel and Samumed have been making it interesting!)

  17. please recommend me??? go to a drugstore and buy it.. what’s the mystery? finasteride 1 mg one pill a day.. c’mon..

    1. Julian…
      Chill man, take a break from the blog. You’re becoming too negative.

      Steve, I don’t take it but there are various articles online about both ramping up on it as well as ramping off of it. Some people start with 1mg every couple of days. And if they feel that there are no sides they start taking it everyday (1mg). The cheaper stuff comes in 5mg tablets which can be broken into 1.25mg a day.

      I’m 29 (30 in 2 months), at NW3. It took me awhile to find the right hair length and the right way to wear it but I feel that until I start going further on the NW scale there isn’t much to worry about.
      For me the 2.5 phase was the worse because I could see where I was going to lose it and the hair was falling out at what I thought was a ridiculous amount but really it took me almost 6 years to get here which made it something I could ease into. Now at NW3, with generally thick hair, it looks/ feels like it is more stable and for what it’s worth, being 30 I just feel like I can handle it better. Yeah I have a sudo-combover but really it isn’t necessarily to cover it up anymore (like I did to start off with at 25 and starting to go towards NW 2.5), it is just to keep the young look and I gotta push my hair in one direction or the other or else it will run straight down my forehead which nobody would do… but I’m also not trying to cover up areas that would look ridiculous (use your judgement). My hair is about an inch long… nothing over the top. You’re 30 now man, welcome to the club… having a NW3 is very acceptable, I’d be elated to be at 2.5 at the point I’m at now, just find the way to style it that works for you. Yeah it will still bother you but remember that most of it is in your head. You still have a full head of hair even with some temple recession, and I emphasize SOME… nobody is going to notice if you work it right and if you they do… em… they are too busy looking at your hairline that they probably have their own insecurities about hairloss. Along with that… start buying clothes so you can fit the part of a 30 year old that has his shit together or is getting his shit together – not just in terms of cash but as someone that is ready to be an adult.

  18. @curious thanks man .. I appreciate ur post. I’m just tired of hiding behind a hat all my life..I’ll just continue the min for now n see how it goes

    1. I’d be willing to send you photos/ video of what I do with my hair if that helps you man… I know it can be a pain in the ass but really once you find a sweet spot that works and while not perfect it can relieve a lot of anxiety. But really I have a hairline somewhat close to Ty Burrell (not sure about what his hairline looks like today but if you google him, most of the photos). I push it forward and to the side. Again I’m not trying to cover up anything but I’m also not trying to make it look worse if you know what I mean. I know he pushes his hair back on some of his photos which I don’t do, I let it fall naturally forward.

      Really though, get out from under the hat. You are only going to make it worse psychologically. And again, if you want I can send you some photos or give you styling tips (not sure of you hair but I’ll try my best). Create a fake email or whatever and post it up here if you want that help.

  19. guys there are some dynamite babes out there that many would call a “10” that 100% dont give a about it… it’s unbelievable and tickles me when i get hit on at a bar

    and for the women suffering with this wearing a wig for a woman is totally acceptable in my opinion but for a man to wear a toupe is a joke atleast in my world here or wolf of wall st. i saw a cute girl at university with alopecia aerata didn’t really feel sorry for her because she was holding her own vibrantly, she wasn’t even wearing a wig but if she was i would still say she was cute

    just some words of encouragement while we wait for the brilliant scientist to complete their magic trick

    1. Man, this problem is not with what chicks think, they could find the most beautiful thing in the world and it would still be a problem. I don’t know why, but it is, it’s about us man… you know it.

  20. Is there any promising research going on into Copper peptide GHK-Cu?


    Theoretically it seems like it would be well suited to treating the underlying causes of AGA.

    It has an anti-inflammatory effect on fibroblasts, its been shown to repair DNA damage (which is likely the principle cause of follicle miniaturization), and its been shown to increase an anti-senescence protein and improve collagen production.

    Of course having these effects on cells in a lab rarely translates to a good practical treatment, although given that copper peptides aren’t patentable there’s little incentive for companies to run the large scale trials that would be needed to test its efficacy.

    Whilst DHT receives a lot of focus, hair loss is essentially an aging process (i.e. DNA damage), which just happens to be accelerated in people with genetically vulnerable follicles.

    If we can develop a treatment that can prevent or repair the DNA damage from DHT, then we can skip past modifying DHT levels altogether.

    Granted the DNA damage in people with certain genes is so rapid that copper peptides alone probably will only slow rather than reverse damage, however they may be useful as part of a broader spectrum of treatments that prevent DNA damage.

        1. The fact that some old people still have their hair does not prove aging doesn’t cause hair loss, it proves some people have genes/lifestyles that protect against aging better than others.

          Some 80 year olds have better eye sight than some 40 year olds, this does not mean aging (i.e. damage) has no effect on eyesight.

          Some 80 year olds have better skin than some 40 year olds who use sun beds every day. This does not mean skin doesn’t age.

          Biological aging is just what we call accumulated damage over time. Some damage comes from external environmental sources like smoking or sunlight, some comes from internal metabolic processes. This damage is mediated by a large number of genetic and environmental factors. We do not all suffer damage at the same rate and our bodies don’t respond to damage in the same way.

          Some people have genetic predispositions that make then extremely vulnerable to some forms of damage, such as ginger people and UV skin damage, some don’t. Some people are very likely to suffer negative consequences of damage (such as increased cancer risk), some aren’t.

          1. So you think a guy that is a Norwood 6 at 23 years of age is a very lucky victim of DNA damage?

            Man, everybody age, without a single exception!!

            On the other hand, some people do not lose a single hair throughout their lives, until they die at 100 years old…

            Baldness is due to a hormonal factor, that is proven already. Men who are castrated do not bald anymore. Not a single one! But they age just as anyone. But stop balding, no matter what their genes were. A castrated man whose all ancestors were slick bald won’t bald anymore. This was observed in ancient times, I guess some greek philosopher, Aristoteles or Socrates.. it doesn’t matter anyway.

            I agree that to the skin, muscles…. aging is a factor, but for hair I don’t agree. AGA is not an aging disease, this is clear to me.

      1. Multiple studies have shown a decrease in the activity and number of follicle stem cells in miniaturized hair follicles.

        There’s no other credible explanation for how hair follicles miniaturize other than a loss of cells and cell function through aging (i.e. damage).

        Cells don’t disappear and stop working out of nowhere, its an evolved mechanism to deal with damage to cell DNA. In order to avoid dangerous genetic aberrations that occurs when DNA is damaged, cells are evolved to switch off (senescence), die off (apoptosis) or turn into a different type of cell (differentiation). All three of these mechanisms are implicated in follicle miniaturization.

        DHT has no intrinsic ability to trigger cell senescence or cell apoptosis, these are secondary effects of DHT. So DHT is doing something to lead to these cellular processes and the best hypothesis is that it is increasing the rate of damage.

        While it’s not been definitively proven, the best hypothesis for why DHT accelerates hairloss is because it increases the rate of oxidative cell damage, especially in hair follicles that have a high number of androgen receptors. There are likely other factors involved, such as its altering the level of growth factors, vascularization etc, but there’s no physiological reason for DHT to kill off some follicles and not others unless those follicles are especially sensitive to damage.

        Here’s a review of studies linking oxidative damage to follicle miniaturization:


        This theory helps explain UVs protective role in hair loss (melanin helps block free radical damage), and why smoking exacerbates hair loss, and many other important hair loss risk factors.

        Regardless of whether its the fundamental mechanism or not – its clearly an important one.

  21. hahaha Julian is gonna explode in 3, 2, 1 …
    Take it easy man, whatever will be, will be, the best option is make it easy, if not you’re gonna get stressed and gonna loose the rest of your hair sooner.

  22. The fact that I hate about these companies is they release news and statements, make us excited and they go silent… I don’t understand whats happening with jak inhibitors.. I thought that was the ground breaker…

    1. It’s being trialed as a once daily topical application.

      If they can achieve better results than minoxidil with only one application a day then its a big jump forward in treatment, however that’s a big if.

      One issue with Samumed’s approach is that they’re manipulating WNT pathways, which is a cell signalling pathway implicated in the regulation of gene transcription and carcinogenesis.

      WNT pathways have also been implicated in regulating PGE2 levels, so its possible it works by elevating PGE2 levels in the scalp.

      While they’ve released little data on the molecule or its mechanism of action, based on what they have released its possible they’re interrupting the cell senescence/cell differentiation process that’s been observed in follicle miniaturization. i.e. it may block signals that tell the follicle cells to die off or stop producing follicle cells.

      So far they’ve reported no significant adverse events (SAEs), though these trials are of a small scale and of a short time period.

        1. It’s potentially an issue, its not definitely an issue.

          They haven’t released any specific information about what exact pathway/s are being manipulated or how. It could be a very narrow and specific action that has low side effect risks.

          What makes WNT pathways a promising avenue of research (its role in tissue regeneration/cell proliferation) is also what makes it potentially risky, since some cancerous genes use it to proliferate their cell lines.

          WNT itself is a proto-oncogene, which means its one of a number of genes that can turn into an oncogene as a result of a mutation or the increase in expression of certain proteins.

          One of the potential benefits of the cell culturing treatments being worked on (hair cloning, replicel, etc) is that they can simply insert new healthy cells into the existing scalp ecosystem, rather than manipulating cell signalling in existing cells, which may have unintended consequences.

    1. Well, I have a feeling that we can expect the same thing from Samumed.. But, again, this is baseless expeculation, we will all know in two weeks.

  23. Admin we should send a request to google to do something about hair loss research….like funding or something..I have heard that google is looking into medical field too….enough of this stupid all time fakers like histogen….anything from google will be legit.

    1. Iam not bad mouthing histogen dude..she is not my mother in law to hate…..but showing fake pics is not a good thing…

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