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SEI
Develops New Hair-Growth Substance that Directly Forms Hair-Growth
Tissues
Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (SEI)
announced today that it has successfully developed a new substance
that induces hair growth. Unlike conventional hair regrowth products
that have indirect effect, the new substance, hereinafter referred
to as EPM, encourages cyclic hair growth by directly inducing the
formation of hair follicles (hair roots). In future, SEI will form
business alliances with pharmaceutical and toiletry companies in
Japan and overseas to enhance commercialization of this new
development. EPM is the first biomedical substance SEI has
developed. Further focusing its research efforts on morphogenesis of
blood vessels and organs, SEI will continue to develop more
biomedical substances that trigger the organization of other
tissues.
SEI has long been conducting research on the
organic materials for wire covering. In the early-80s, focusing its
attention to future growth potential of the biotechnology market,
SEI had started research on biotechnology and materials. After the
discovery of a protein "epimorphin" that have the ability
to make the cells to form the tissue-specific structures (morphogenesis)
in 1992, SEI has been energetically carrying out research and
development of clarifying the morphogenic function and of
application of epimorphin to biomedicines.
Epimorphin is a protein that is made up of
about 300 amino acids linked together. It normally exists inside a
cell, but once secreted extracellulary, it encourages the cells of
various organs, including the hair follicle, to rearrange into their
original structures. However, it has long been unknown which amino
acid combination is critical for the tissue organization.
In the initial stage of research, efforts were
focused on the determination of optimum combination of amino acids
that forms the follicles and induces hair-growth. SEI has
established a screening method for efficient evaluation of effective
combinations and used this method to determine the optimum amino
acid combination for the follicle formation. Artificially
reproducing and chemically modifying this optimum combination, the
new substance EPM was formulated.
EPM, which is made up of about ten amino
acids, is small enough to permeate through human skin. This means
that it can be applied to the scalp as a hair regrowth product for
external use. To test the effect of EPM, SEI has prepared an EPM
concentration of one-hundredth of commercially available hair growth
tonic and applied this on the laboratory mice that have their furs
shaven. The test results verified that diluted EPM achieved the
hair-regrowth effect equivalent to or better than that of the
conventional hair regrowth product of normal concentration. Among
the safety tests required for petition on manufacturing of drugs
based on the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act, SEI has already completed
the major animal tests. SEI has filed various patent applications on
EPM and the screening method in and Japan and overseas.
SEI has appointed BioFrontier Partners, Inc.
as its agent and will work toward commercialization of EPM as hair
regrowth product through tie-ups with domestic and foreign
pharmaceutical and toiletry companies.
Newly developed EPM forms the follicles and
encourages regrowth of hair. SEI sees that when EPM is further
improved, the amino acid combinations that induce formation of blood
vessels and organs can be determined. SEI will focus its efforts on
extraction and determination of the combinations that have new
functions and will carry on the development in the field of
regeneration medicine
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