Replicel RCH-01 Hair Loss Treatment: How it Works

RCH-01 is a relatively new technology (part of the hair cloning technology) that focuses on using autologous cell therapy to reverse hair loss. In other words, we isolate some healthy hair follicles from a patient, we then culture those cells and produce more healthy cells, and finally, we inject the new cells into areas with severe hair loss.

Although this technique has been sponsored by big companies for many years, most projects failed because of obstacles during clinical trials.
RCH-01 is one of the few that’s still on the racing track; it is developed by the cooperation of two big companies; Shiseido and RepliCel, and is supposed to be available for commercial use soon.

How does it work?

This technology is based on isolating some healthy hair follicles from a patient dealing with hair loss using a punch biopsy.

After that, we remove the hair fiber and other structures to be left with dermal sheath cup (DSC) cells; these cells are then put in a Petri dish and cultured to make millions of new cells.

Finally, we take the new cells and inject them into the epidermis of areas with hair loss.

This treatment is especially beneficial to a type of hair loss called androgenetic alopecia, where Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) causes the hair follicles to shrink and disappear.

For this reason, the RCH-01 technique collects healthy hair follicles from the back of the hair, where DSC cells are believed to be immune to the effects of DHT.

Scientists also believe that the DSC cells will rejuvenate other stem cells to produce new hair follicles and reverse the androgenetic alopecia.

Results

When a new drug is developed by a pharmaceutical company, it has to go through a long process of clinical trials to determine the actual benefits, short-term and long-term side effects, and whether they can be used for humans.

RCH-01 is still going through these phases but is believed to become available for public use soon.

Nevertheless, RCH-01 has indeed completed phase one of the human clinical trials, which involves determining:

• The safety of the product
• The safe dosage
• Potential side effects of the product

RepliCel has stated that “the five-year trial data set has confirmed the complete safety profile of a high-dose of dermal sheath cup cells (DSCC) for patients with pattern baldness due to androgenetic alopecia [pattern baldness].”

However, for this treatment to become available for public use, it has to pass two to three other phases with strict evaluation processes.

Conclusion

RepliCel and their partners claim that RCH-01 will be a revolutionary treatment modality for hair loss in men, as well as women. That’s a big claim for an issue that has been unsolvable for decades; in theory, it looks good! However, these new techniques often face obstacles during advanced phases of the clinical trials, which is believed to be the reason no updates have been released from the company recently.

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Nevertheless, if the results of clinical trials are compatible with the claims behind this new technique, then it is going to be revolutionary indeed!