Hair care products made with biotech will limit hair loss

16-Aug-2016 - Last updated on 17-Aug-2016 at 14:32 GMT

This month Daniel Alain Life Science acquired the intellectual property rights to a technology that the company plans to put to use in hair care and hair styling product formulations as early as next year.

The patented technology is said to minimize hair loss due to the drag and pulling of every-day care and styling. Andy Goren, one of the founders of the biotech incubator Applied Biology, developed the technology. And, it’s his company that sold the rights to Daniel Alain Life Science.

Biotech and skin

Applied Biology is located in Irvine, California, and focused on developing and discovering biopharmaceutical solutions for the field of dermatology. As the company site puts it, their “research spans novel compounds ushering a paradigm shift in phototherapy to transformation of microbial organisms to deliver dermatological therapy.”

The company has several projects in process, with studies underway on a test to see who won’t respond to Minoxidil, a topical treatment for those individuals, and topical alopecia treatments. It was during the team’s work on alopecia that Goren discovered the biotech in question.

Muscle tension

The technology works by effectively creating goose bumps or muscular contractions that pull back against the force of washing, combing, straightening, or curling hair. “The contraction of the errector pili muscle attached to each hair follicle is familiar to everyone as the phenomena of goosebumps,” affirms Goren in the Applied Biology press release about the technology transfer.

“Trying to pull hair from a goosebump requires much more force than when the skin is smooth,” he adds, and goes on to explain that “this innovation uses the same technique to prevent hair shedding from mechanical styling procedures.”

Beauty market

A product collection that could help limit hair lost during routine care and styling would certainly have market potential. And Daniel Alain Life Science has plans to test that potential soon enough. The company aims to have a commercial product ready to go by or before June 2017.

“We are excited to work with Applied Biology to bring to market an innovative treatment for a large unmet need,” Daniel Hafid, CEO of Daniel Alain Life Science, tells the press.