There is always going to be cynicism with new medical treatments. The fact that laser and electrolysis have been the mainstay of hair removal for years with no other viable products, there is bound to be skepticism. I think the fact of the matter is that medicine is starting to catch up. This is a multi-billion dollar industry and if some of these companies can make a break through, they will be worth quite a bit indeed. The two companies (Quest and Sirna) are using hair removal as proof of concept studies for other possible treatments. With Quest, hair removal I believe was stumbled upon by accident.
Quest is using their technology for things such as cancer treatment and acne treatments. For instance…one pigment they used for acne treatment was supposed to be taken up in to the subaceous glands. Instead, it was taken up by the hair follicle and hence they began looking in to this particular pigment for hair removal. They will use what they learn from these simpler studies to focus on more complicated things such as targeting tumors.
In Sirna’s case, they are also using hair removal to later work on other more complicated treatments such as diabetes, cancer, hepatitis, and huntington’s disease. They are using hair removal to show this technology works. It’s not an easy thing to deliver sirna because cells see it as an invader and destroy it. These earlier studies will pave the way to improved delivery systems. They have already proven that the sirna specific for cleaving the protein specific to hair growth makes it to the follicle cells through topical treatment. They have shown it both with in vitro and in vivo studies. Human tests are scheduled to begin the 4th quarter of this year.
I don’t think a stock price has anything to do with a viable technology. It’s all about paternerships, and with Quest, it is possible they are going it alone. Sirna has been hovering in the $3-$5 range for months and this after successful partnerships with Allergan in which they are in phase I trials for macular degeneration. The results so far have been very promising. They are also partnering with GlaxoSmithKline for asthma and copd treatments and also Targeted Genetics for work on huntington’s disease.
One other thing…this idea that…oh if this is such a great technology, why hasn’t laser companies etc bought them out to get rid of the technology. Why didn’t those that sell electrolysis equipment buy out lasers? Why didn’t Ford buy out Chevrolet so that they ruled the auto market? It’s a silly assumption, almost as bad as the mythical water fueled engine that the oil companies bought the patents to and then destroyed. Old medical practices are sometimes left on the wayside because newer, better technology comes about. That’s the way it is in a free market society.
