Osaka, Japan - February 04, 2002 - Sumitomo Electric Industries, Ltd. (SEI), a major Japanese industrial company, announced today that it has successfully developed a new substance that induces hair growth. Unlike conventional hair regrowth products that have an indirect effect, the new substance, hereinafter referred to as EPM, encourages cyclic hair growth by directly inducing the formation of new hair follicles (hair roots).

To market this technology, SEI plans to form business alliances with pharmaceutical and toiletry companies in Japan and overseas to commercialize this new development. EPM is the first biomedical substance SEI has developed. It is further focusing its research efforts on morphogenesis of blood vessels and organs, and SEI will continue to develop more biomedical substances that trigger the organization of other tissues.

SEI has long been conducting research on the organic materials for wire covering. In the early-80s it focused its attention on the future growth potential of the biotechnology market and started conducting research on biotechnology and materials. Since their 1992 discovery of a protein "epimorphin" that has the ability to make the cells form the tissue-specific structures (morphogenesis), SEI has been energetically carrying out research and development to clarify the morphogenic function and the application of epimorphin to biomedicines.

Epimorphin is a protein that is made up of about 300 amino acids linked together. It normally exists inside a cell, but once secreted extracellulary, it encourages the cells of various organs, including the hair follicle, to rearrange into their original structures. However, it has long been unknown which amino acid combination is critical for the tissue organization. In the initial stage of research, efforts were focused on the determination of optimum combination of amino acids that forms the follicles and induces hair-growth.

With EPM Without EPM (Concentration: 0) 90% and over 5% and under

SEI has established a screening method for efficiently evaluating the effective combinations and used this method to determine the optimum amino acid combination for the follicle formation. By artificially reproducing and chemically modifying this optimum combination, the new substance EPM was formulated. EPM, which is made up of about ten amino acids, is small enough to permeate through human skin. This means that it can be applied to the scalp as a hair regrowth product for external use. To test the effect of EPM, SEI prepared an EPM concentration of one-hundredth of commercially available hair growth tonic and applied this on the laboratory mice that had their fur shaved.

The test results verified that diluted EPM achieved the hair-regrowth effect equivalent to or better than that of the conventional hair regrowth products of normal concentration. SEI has already completed major animal studies, one of the safety requirements for petitioning the government to manufacture drugs based on the Pharmaceutical Affairs Act in Japan. However, according to the company, products based on their technology won't be available before 2010.

SEI has filed various patent applications on EPM and the screening method in and Japan and overseas. SEI has appointed BioFrontier Partners, Inc. as its agent and will work toward commercialization of EPM as hair regrowth product through joint ventures with domestic and foreign pharmaceutical and toiletry companies.

SEI believes that when EPM is further improved, the amino acid combinations that induce formation of blood vessels and organs can be determined. SEI will now focus its efforts on extraction and determination of the combinations that have new functions and will carry on the development in the field of regeneration medicine.