By Sneha S K and Sriparna Roy
(Reuters) -Pelage Pharmaceuticals said on Wednesday it had closed a $120 million funding round to help advance the development of its novel hair loss treatment.
The Series B financing round was co-led by ARCH Venture Partners and Google Ventures, with participation from existing investors including Main Street Advisors, Visionary Ventures and YK Bioventures.
Pelage declined to share its valuation.
The financing will help the company begin multiple late-stage trials and grow its headcount necessary to conduct larger-scale studies, Chief Medical Officer Christina Weng said.
The company plans to begin late-stage trials next year to test its lead experimental program, PP405, which is a non-invasive topical therapy designed to reactivate dormant hair follicle stem cells and restart hair growth in men and women.
“The science is a strong differentiator in terms of the mechanism of PP405. It’s a regenerative medicine approach that targets the hair follicle stem cells and really addresses the root cause of hair loss, rather than currently available treatments which target secondary drivers like hormones,” Weng said.
There are currently two FDA-approved drugs for androgenetic alopecia or pattern hair loss – minoxidil and finasteride. Only minoxidil is approved for use in women.
In a mid-stage trial, which enrolled 78 men and women with androgenetic alopecia, PP405 met the main goal of being safe and well-tolerated.
The trial also showed that 31% of men with a higher degree of hair loss treated with PP405 experienced a more than 20% increase in hair density compared to no change in the placebo group four weeks after completion of dosing.
The treatment has seen a lot of enthusiasm on social media as it could potentially become the first new treatment for hair loss in decades.
Pelage is having ongoing conversations with companies on plans to sell and market the treatment if it gets approved, CEO Daniel Gil said.
(Reporting by Sriparna Roy and Sneha S K in Bengaluru; Editing by Shreya Biswas)
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