Divine Skin becomes first developer to utilize hair growth peptide in cosmetic product

By Andrew McDougall

- Last updated on GMT

Hair loss has plagued man since the dawn of time, and now Divine Skin believes it may have found the answer by releasing the first topical hair growth treatment based on astressin-B, a peptide that was discovered to regrow hair on bald mice.

With this treatment, Divine Skin becomes the first biotech developer to synthesize and commercialize the peptide for human use in a cosmetic product.

Astressin-B is a nonselective corticotropin releasing hormone antagonist that has been shown to block a stress hormone that is attributed to hair loss.

Found by accident

It came to light earlier this year during a study carried out by the University of California Los Angeles and the Veterans Administration originally testing the relationship between stress and the gastrointestinal tract.

By applying the peptide subcutaneously to mice that had gone bald due to overexpression of stress hormones, scientists showed that astressin-B blocked receptors for corticotropin-releasing factor, involved in the stress response, and led to hair regrowth.

This led the scientists to apply for a patent on the use of the compound for hair growth, stating it could be used in hair loss treatments for humans.

Divine Skin has acted on this research by utilizing it in its latest hair growth treatment, which will be marketed as Spectral.F7 under the its Laboratories brand.

‘Reasonably priced’

"Astressin-B is a very complex peptide that is difficult to synthesize,"​ said Divine Skin CEO Daniel Khesin. "So we are especially excited that the resulting product will be reasonably priced as well as cutting-edge, considering the extraordinary development schedule and cost."

The Florida-based organisation says that Spectral.F7 is a booster that can be combined with other treatments or used alone, and is expected to begin shipping in October.

"We think this technology is years ahead of its time,"​ continued Khesin. "It could provide significant benefits to many of our hair-loss customers. Spectral.F7 is another direct result of our relentless commitment to bring the latest technology to market first and always."

The launch comes less than two months after Divine Skin introduced Nanoxidil, a new molecule designed to stimulate follicles at the vertex of the scalp and surpass minoxidil for efficacy and tolerability.

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