Claims for Patent: 8,208,189

Summary for Patent: 8,208,189

Title:	Treatment of alopecia by micropore delivery of stem cells
Abstract:	A method of restoring hair to skin that has suffered hair loss includes optically ablating an array of spaced-apart microchannels or voids into the skin and transplanting into the voids stem cells, a scaffold and a differentiation factor for causing the stem cells to differentiate into hair follicles.
Inventor(s):	Hantash; Basil M. (East Palo Alto, CA), Frangineas; George (Fremont, CA), DeBenedictis; Leonard C. (Palo Alto, CA)
Assignee:	Reliant Technologies, Inc. (Mountain View, CA)
Application Number:	12/102,739
Patent Claims:	1. An apparatus comprising: a handpiece movable over skin, the handpiece arranged to receive an optical beam having an absorption coefficient in water of about 100 cm.sup.-1 to 12,300 cm.sup.-1, the handpiece configured to focus the optical beam at a plurality of spaced-apart locations on the skin with a pulse energy per location of 5 mJ to 40 mJ thereby creating a plurality of voids in the skin for the deposition of a composition, wherein the composition comprises a stem cell and a growth media, and the handpiece is configured to focus the optical beam to create voids with a depth of about 200 .mu.m to 4 mm, with a density of 200 to 4000 voids per cm.sup.2 per pass, at a rate of 100 per second to 5000 per second, and such that viable tissue separating adjacent voids has a width, at a narrowest point thereof, between about 50 .mu.m and 500 .mu.m. 2. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising an applicator arranged to deposit the composition in the voids following the formation of the voids. 3. The apparatus of claim 2, wherein the applicator further comprises a removable tip that attaches to the handpiece. 4. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises a scaffold. 5. The method of claim 4, wherein the scaffold is selected from the group consisting of poly(lactic-co-glycolic acid) (PLGA), fibronectin, collagen 1, and collagen 3. 6. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the stem cell is hair follicle cell. 7. The apparatus of claim 6, wherein the composition further comprises a melanocyte stem cell. 8. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the media comprises a proliferation-inducing growth factor. 9. The apparatus of claim 8, wherein the growth factor is selected from the group consisting of epidermal growth factor (EGF), amphiregulin, acidic fibroblast growth factor (aFGF or FGF-1), basic fibroblast growth factor (bFGF or FGF-2), and transforming growth factor alpha (TGF.alpha.), or combinations thereof. 10. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the composition further comprises a hair-follicle differentiation factor. 11. The apparatus of claim 10, wherein the differentiation factor is selected from the group consisting of FGF2, FGF4, noggin, platelet-derived growth factor (PDGF), and parathyroid hormone-related protein (PTHrp), or combinations thereof. 12. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the stem cell is a hair follicle cell. 13. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the scanner is configured to rotate. 14. The apparatus of claim 12, wherein the scanner comprises one or more galvanometer scanners. 15. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the optical beam is emitted by a laser. 16. The apparatus of claim 15, wherein the laser is a CO.sub.2 laser with a wavelength of about 10.6 .mu.m. 17. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a vacuum that removes debris that is removed from the skin during creation of the voids. 18. The apparatus of claim 1, further comprising a system that creates a positive pressure in a chamber containing the composition. 19. The apparatus of claim 1, wherein the voids are elongated.

Details for Patent 8,208,189

Applicant	Tradename	Biologic Ingredient	Dosage Form	BLA	Approval Date	Patent No.	Expiredate
Nps Pharmaceuticals, Inc.	NATPARA	parathyroid hormone	For Injection	125511	01/23/2015		2027-04-13