Nanogen Products
What do you think about the website www.nanogen.co.uk and it’s various products? There’s some pretty big claims on the site about effectiveness of their products, what do you think of them? Are any of them any good or are they all just lies?
To be honest, I’m not familiar with them by name. They make a few products, but their Nanothik sounds like DermMatch or Toppik… and their Nanogaine is being marketed as an alternative to Rogaine. The line of products may be of good quality, but they shouldn’t be claiming that it’ll regrow lost hair or preventing hair loss. In the United States, the FDA regulates claims like that, so if a shampoo or cream were to be labeled as a preventative measure for hair loss (for example) the FDA can shut the company down if they do not pull all mention of outlandish claims. This company is UK based though, so I’m not sure how it is regulated.
I dont understand the previous person’s point of view. First they state they dont know the company then go on to pass judgement. I am a sufferer and chemist and don’t care to defend any company (although i hear very good things about Nanogen as a biotech – they were exhibiting at ISHRS this year and they are working on genetics – i hardly think they are a quack operation) but there is a certain amount of naivety amongst fellow sufferers which for the good of themselves needs to be tempered. It takes millions upon millions of dollars to get a drug through to licensing. It takes many years too. There are several very good products which have loss attenuation and anagen phase extension which are completely non-drug in their registration but we all know what they do. This is the game we all have to play. People whining about regulation will only lessen the research being done by many small biotechs. The current drugs for hair loss have only been developed as side-effects to serious health issues like BHP and high blood pressure. The big drug companies do not care about hair loss – it is too small a market. I hope that I am clear that while i think we should quit meddling with regulatory moans, we should still rigorously test the science. I dont want snake oils either.
Oh and love this blog as I do, being from Europe (germany – sorry for english), can posters stop talking about the FDA as if it regulates the world. The FDA is a US body and FDA approval means little outside the US except for marketing reasons. Likewise EU regulation has no jurisdiction in the US. This is another reason why many companies market their products as cosmetics but to inform us they have to be open on the website.
I am a doctor based in the US, so the FDA is what I am used to and I answer the questions with that in mind.