Medesthetics

JAN-FEB 2014

MedEsthetics magazines offers business education and in-depth coverage of the latest noninvasive cosmetic procedures for physicians and practice managers working in the medical aesthetics industry.

Issue link: https://medesthetics.epubxp.com/i/238490

Contents of this Issue

Navigation

Page 16 of 66

BEST PRACTICES Patients with stubborn pockets of fat who do not have the budget to invest in energy-based fat reduction devices may soon have a new tool at their disposal. Topokine Therapeutics has initiated dosing in a Phase 2, randomized, controlled clinical trial of XAF5 Gel for the reduction of excess submental fat. XAF5 is a small molecule that induces a G protein-coupled cascade in adipocytes to reduce cellular lipid content and differentiation. Daily administration of XAF5 has been shown to reduce fat around the human eye and in five laboratory models. Ophthalmologists at the Massachusetts Eye and Ear Infirmary at the Harvard Medical School Department of Ophthalmology were the first to discover its fat-reducing capabilities. Participants in the Phase 2 trial, which follows positive data from a six-week Phase 1 clinical trial completed in April 2013, are applying XAF5 Gel or placebo once a night to skin under the chin. In the Phase 1 randomized, double-blind, placebo-controlled study, 32 healthy men and women applied XAF5 Gel or placebo once a night to a 100 cm2 area of abdominal skin. The study met its pre-specified primary safety and tolerability endpoint at all doses. The only side effects were mild, temporary skin redness or itching, which occurred at similar rates with placebo. Exploratory CT scans showed a dose-dependent reduction in fat volume under treated skin as compared to contralateral untreated skin. Retail Merchandising Support Homecare products can be a lucrative profit center for medical aesthetic practices, but building out a retail center can be costly. To help practices boost their retail efforts with minimal investment, MicroPharmacy Corporation offers standalone merchandising kiosks, called Medi-Stores, that draw visitors in with attractive shelving and lighting. The displays can be customized with the practice's logo or private label skincare branding. In addition to supplying a platform to showcase product, MicroPharmacy helps practices identify the best real estate for retailing within the office and provides inventory management tools and training. "We know the medical office has a unique advantage over a local pharmacy, mass retailer or online competition. The patient may browse, sample or test products recommended by their physician right then and there," says Petr Klima, microretail strategist for MicroPharmacy. "When placed in the waiting room, the Medi-Store becomes the product ambassador." For more information, visit micropharmacy.com. 12 JANUARY/FEBRUARY 2014 | MedEsthetics Researchers Induce New Human Hair Growth Researchers at Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) have devised a hair restoration method that can generate new human hair growth, rather than simply redistribute hair from one part of the scalp to another. Their finding was published online in the Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences (October 21, 2013). "Dermal papilla cells give rise to hair follicles, and the notion of cloning hair follicles using inductive dermal papilla cells has been around for 40 years or so," said Colin Jahoda, PhD, coauthor of the study and professor of stem cell sciences at Durham University, England, and co-director of North East England Stem Cell Institute. "However, once the dermal papilla cells are put into conventional, two-dimensional tissue culture, they revert to basic skin cells and lose their ability to produce hair follicles." The researchers found a clue to overcoming this barrier in their observations of rodent hair, which can be easily harvested, expanded and successfully transplanted back into rodent skin. They hypothesized that the rodents' hair is readily transplantable, because their dermal papillae—unlike human papillae—tend to spontaneously aggregate in tissue culture. The team reasoned that these aggregations must create their own extracellular environment, which allows the papillae to interact and release signals that reprogram the recipient skin to grow new follicles. The researchers harvested dermal papillae from seven human donors and cloned the cells in tissue culture; no additional growth factors were added. After a few days, the cultured papillae were transplanted between the dermis and epidermis of human skin that had been grafted onto the backs of mice. In fi ve of the seven tests, the transplants resulted in new hair growth that lasted at least six weeks. DNA analysis confirmed that the new hair follicles were human and genetically matched the donors. ©THINKSTOCK Topical Help for Submental Fat

Articles in this issue

Links on this page

Archives of this issue

view archives of Medesthetics - JAN-FEB 2014