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You've Seen It On The Internet - Now Meet The Man Behind Revivogen™ |
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Alex Khadavi, MD, CEO and Founder of Revivogen.
'Reprinted by permission from THE NATIONAL HAIR JOURNAL'
While still a 21-year-old undergraduate at UCLA, Dr. Alex Khadavi began to lose his hair. A confident, successful researcher on the Human Genome Project, he found no solution to his problem in the established medical community, so he decided to take matters in his own hands. Years of research and clinical trials eventually led him to create Revivogen, a topical solution to control and combat hair loss. Similar to Finasteride, Revivogen claims to use all-natural ingredients to effectively inhibit DHT production and allow hair to grow in a healthier environment (see footnote).
National Hair Journal: So Revivogen owes its creation to your own experiences as a medical student?
Alex Khadavi: Yes it does. I first became interested in hair loss 11 years ago when I began to experience hair loss myself. I still remember one unsettling experience. I was in the gym and I could see myself in all the mirrors. There was no escaping it; from every angle I could see clearly that I was suffering from hair loss. There I was, trying to improve my body, trying to build a better self-image, and all the while my hair loss was taking me in the opposite direction!
NHJ: You're not the first!
AK: Of course. But when I tried to combat the problem, it was not as easy as I thought. I imagined that I could go to a doctor or someone else who happened to be losing their hair and find a simple solution. As an undergraduate, I had been successful in my biological research and successful in school, so I assumed I could be just as successful in fighting hair loss. Sadly, what I found was that my doctor didn't have any real solution for me. So I went to a dermatologist and he suggested that I use Minoxidil.
NHJ: You were a young man at the time. How important was your hair loss?
AK: I was 21 and losing my hair just when everything else was going great for me. I was excelling in school and my social life. Losing my hair was a traumatic experience for me! I remember looking at my father who had gone completely bald by the time he was 30 and I realized I really didn't want to look like him.
NHJ: You were studying medicine at the time?
AK: I was studying biology and doing research on the Human Genome Project… but I had no idea what hair loss entailed, or what caused it.
NHJ: Where did you turn to find out about hair loss?
AK: There was, to my knowledge, no such thing as a 'hair loss authority.' I found scattered reports pertaining to alopecia in medical journals, but the information was from disparate sources and often contradicted itself.
NHJ: Is it fair to say that, although hair loss was troubling to the patient, it was not something that the medical community was taking very seriously at that time?
AK: Absolutely. No one seemed to be on top of the research that was going on or what the facts were. There were lots of claims being made, but how could I know whom to trust?
NHJ: Your story parallels that of Eva Graham, who went on to create the Nioxin company. Her father lost his hair and she remembers being frustrated at having no way to help him.
AK: I can relate to that. For a period of three or four years I was searching constantly, trying to find a hint of any kind of research that might hold out some promise for men like myself. All the while, of course, I was continuing to lose more hair. Eventually, in the early 1990's, I found some studies dealing with Propecia - or Finasteride. Some scientists had discovered that the conversion of testosterone into dihydrotestosterone (DHT) might be the cause of not only increasing the size of the prostate but also be the passive physiology in the development of hair loss.
NHJ: Was this one of those 'Ah-Ha! moments' for you?
AK: It was exciting, but to my surprise very few people talked about it. To me, however, this was a breakthrough and I was hoping to get involved in the research. I was nervous about taking the medication orally though, since it was new. Those fears led me to wonder if Finasteride could be effectively applied topically. I spoke with a few biochemists at UCLA and we found out that a topical delivery system was, in fact, feasible.
NHJ: So you got on the phone to the makers of Propecia?
AK: Not yet. I made a formulation and, along with nine other friends, we began some tests. As it turned out, our tests were remarkably successful. Many of the test subjects were not only stopping their hair loss, but some were even growing their hair back. Our success was interesting to me for two reasons. First of all, it was proving other peoples' hypotheses that DHT did, in fact, cause hair loss and that hair loss could be halted by reducing DHT production in the body. Secondly, my research showed that results could be achieved topically - that a localized remedy could take the place of a systemic treatment [oral ingestion of the drug].
NHJ: Why do you think that Merck - with its global resources - had not engaged in similar research? AK: I actually did get in touch with Merck at the time to share these findings. I was not interested in making a hair loss product myself, I just wanted them to take my idea and do some comprehensive tests to corroborate my findings. Finasteride was already on the market so I called their researchers and explained to them how I was making my topical solution and achieving positive results. In response, Merck's researchers told me that that they had attempted to create a topical solution already and had found it to be ineffective. That was the end of our conversation.
NHJ: Were you discouraged?
AK: Personally, I think that since they were in the midst of their clinical trials for oral Finasteride, they were unwilling to start over and initiate Phase 1 clinical trials with a topical version. The expense would have been prohibitive. Just a few months ago, though, at the US Patent Trade Office, I noticed that Merck had put in a patent application for a topical delivery system for Finasteride. So maybe they have reversed their stance since I spoke with them. I guess at the time they were just unwilling to spread themselves too thin.
NHJ: What did you do next?
AK: I continued my quest to find products equivalent to Finasteride. Eventually I ran into a few articles by Dr. Lial who discussed reducing DHT levels in the scalp by using simple fatty acids and other similar, natural ingredients. This was very exciting because not only were the ingredients all-natural, but they seemed to be even more powerful than Finasteride in reducing DHT. Also, since the fatty acids were fat soluble, a topical solution would be effective. I began to work with a fatty acid solution that consisted of saw palmetto, ethyl laurate, and beta sito-sterol and created a topical delivery system. This was the first Revivogen.
NHJ: What were you thinking at the time? Did you think you had created a marginally significant product… or that you'd stumbled onto something really big?
AK: I knew it was important, but I still needed to prove it on a larger scale. When scientists have ideas in the lab they can act on them within an hour. So as a young scientist who had done a lot of scientific research, I was convinced it was possible to start a clinical trial very easily. I approached my work on Revivogen with the same attitude, not knowing that clinical trials are actually very complex and difficult to organize. I brashly went ahead with the Revivogen project because I wanted to prove that the product - the fatty acids - could restimulate the hair follicle and regenerate hair.
NHJ: So you believed an official, clinical trial would confirm the importance of your findings?
AK: I did, and with the help of biochemists in my medical school at George Washington University, I was able to formulate Revivogen and put together a clinical trial. It was a small study with only 12 patients and no placebo control. We used it topically for a six-month period…and we had more than half of the patients regrowing hair!
NHJ: Were you one of those 12 patients and did you see results?
AK: I was and I did. I had discontinued my use of topical Finasteride six months earlier so that I could be among the first people to use Revivogen. In the initial phase I had an increased shed of my hair. That was a little bit scary, but after talking to a few dermatologists I came to understand that an initial shedding period was normal amongst patients taking DHT-inhibiting drugs. I continued with the experiment and in three months the shedding ended and I began to notice baby hairs along my hairline becoming thicker and darker. My hairline was also beginning to come forward and my crown was filling in. I noticed the same thing in seven other subjects in the experiment.
NHJ: So your trial was confirming your hypothesis!
AK: Obviously, this first test was very motivating, so we moved on and did another, larger clinical trial. We were able to show that 86% of people in the clinical trial were able to regrow hair. Now, to be fair, I have to tell you that these were people with Norwood stage 2, 3 or 4-hair loss. Norwood stage 4 had less of an effect than with people with stage 2 or 3. We learned that the more advanced the hair loss, the less effective the product. Even on Norwood 4, though, people were maintaining their hair, where otherwise they would have continued to lose it. These are the same results observed in the Finasteride study.
NHJ: I know you didn't replicate the research design of Propecia, but were you able to see any parallel between your topically-applied solution compared with Merck's pill?
AK: Yes. Our results with Revivogen were almost identical to those with Propecia. With both products, shedding and regrowth patterns are very similar, with regrowth occurring more slowly in the hairline than in the crown.
NHJ: The studies you have conducted so far are not FDA-controlled studies. However, as researchers you have satisfied yourselves regarding the efficacy of your product and can stand behind its cosmetic claims. But you are not allowed to officially claim hair regrowth are you? AK: That is exactly true. It's interesting - the FDA guidelines that would allow us to claim regrowth are seemingly arbitrary. Specifically, they concern regeneration of hair; but Revivogen is not technically regenerating hair. If you look at the physiology of androgenetic alopecia, you see that large, mature hairs slowly shrink and miniaturize. What we are doing is not so much regrowing hair as stimulating baby hairs to become thicker and fuller. We are not really regrowing hair as much as stimulating baby hairs into maturity. NHJ: Are you technically allowed to say, 'We stop the progressive thinning of hair that leads to hair loss and help restore fullness?' Is that legitimate?
AK: Under the FDA's cosmetic product guidelines, we can only say that our product 'Creates an environment in the scalp that allows hair to grow thicker and more healthy.' We just can't say Revivogen actually regrows hair, which, as far as I'm concerned, is only achieved by Rogaine. NHJ: The FDA guidelines were clearly a marketing handicap, but you were, nevertheless able to take Revivogen successfully from lab to market.
AK: Yes. After the initial testing, it took us three years to finish some other projects, gather all the data from our studies and make the decision to pursue the product. Unfortunately, at the time I did not have the resources to put the product together for others to use. Frankly, I wasn't thinking of it as an economic venture for myself. I was interested in the use of the product, not the sale. In time, though, I brought the idea to a handful of advisors, many of whom were excited about the product but were unable to help make it a commercial reality. Luckily, a good childhood friend, Dr. Alan Shargani, who is now my business partner, shared my enthusiasm and decided to take on a marketing role.
NHJ: How did you launch Revivogen? AK: It was originally sold over the Internet. We went on 'Yahoo! Stores' and we became an online store. We put together a terrific website that not only advertised our product but also gave some significant information about hair loss and links to relevant journal articles that gave visitors to our site confidence in us as researchers and in our products. We did it that way for a few reasons. First of all, we were geeks! We loved the Internet, it had become an integral part of our lives as doctors and researchers, and we decided it would be a good place to increase awareness of our product. We had also found several hair loss 'communities' online that were populated by people who were very educated about hair loss - perhaps even more so than most dermatologists - and we saw this as a good initial test market.
NHJ: At the time, the Internet was still a relatively new phenomenon. Did you get a good response from the public?
AK: The response was immediate. We gave people a 90-day, money-back guarantee. Instead of people returning the product, though, they were sending us testimonials by phone, by e-mail and by snail mail everyday! Even people from major international cosmetic companies who were initially skeptical of Revivogen, started calling and offering to sell the product!
NHJ: How did you react to your success? Did you have a business plan at this point?
AK: Not at all. We were simply taking things day-by-day and reveling in our surprises and successes. I really didn't expect it to be such a success. I never realized just how many people were eager to find a product like Revivogen. To me what is most amazing is the amount of publicity we got from the Internet. Compared with the other products out there, we had a lot of positive feedback. My greatest satisfaction comes from the knowledge that thousands - or hopefully tens of thousands of people - are using Revivogen every night and having the same success with it that I am. NHJ: How important is your claim that Revivogen is all-natural?
AK: Synthetic medications are more likely to have secondary effects in the body if they cannot be broken down metabolically. In contrast, Revivogen has ingredients that get broken down immediately once they enter the bloodstream. Other, synthetic products such as Rogaine or Propecia contain ingredients that do not begin to break down until they enter the liver. Also, since it is only effective topically, Revivogen does not enter the bloodstream and cause other potentially deleterious effects.
NHJ: There is a lot of skepticism in general about hair maintenance/hair regrowth products. What would your message be to those who are skeptical of Revivogen?
AK: First of all, those who are skeptical of the hair loss industry probably feel that way because they have been duped by some of our predecessors who peddled snake oils and false hopes and brought down the reputation of the industry. I want to make it clear that we at Revivogen are not in the market to sell miracles. We are able to reverse hair loss and make it look like it did anywhere from three to eight years ago, but we can't make you look 18 again.
NHJ: Thank you.
Footnote:
Active Ingredients - The active ingredients of Revivogen™ are compounds proven to inhibit 5-Alpha-Reductase (the enzyme that produces DHT), block the androgen receptors and stimulate hair growth. They include Gamma Linolenic acid (GLA), Alpha Linolenic acid (ALA), Linoleic Acid, Oleic Acid, Azaleic acid, Vitamin B6, Zinc, Saw Palmetto Extract, Beta-Sitosterol and Procyanidin Oligomers. |
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