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January 2008


Leading Hair Restoration Surgeon Sharon Keene, MD, Joins Advisory Board Of HairDX

First Consumer Genetic Test For Baldness: Affordable, Accurate, Understandable Analysis Offered By Biotech Start-up

Leading hair restoration surgeon Sharon Keene, MD, today joined the Advisory Board of HairDX, LLC a biotech start-up offering the first genetic baldness test for consumers.

HairDX recently launched a simple genetic test for consumers to measure their risk for early onset pattern baldness (Androgenetic Alopecia) and learn about their genetic predisposition to baldness before the age of 40.

The test was developed based on results from several peer-reviewed scientific studies associating variations in the X -chromosome to pattern baldness. The studies compared this variant in bald and non bald patients.

HairDX is the first genetic test available to consumers as a marker to help assess their risk for developing androgenetic alopecia (male pattern baldness).

This offers useful information to patients who may wish to seek medical evaluation and treatment for increased hair shedding when it is most cosmetically successful - before substantial hair loss has occurred.

“ HairDX tests for a genetic variant found in more than 95% of bald men. 60% of patients with this variant experienced male pattern baldness before the age of 40, thus it is a marker for a significant increased risk of pattern baldness,”says Professor Doron Lancet, PhD, a pioneer of genome research and Head of the Crown Human Genome Center at the Department of Molecular Genetics, Weizmann Institute of Science in Rehovot, Israel. This is in contrast to the less common genetic variant of the same gene, present in about 1 in 6 people, which indicates a greater then 85% likelihood that a person will not experience early onset pattern baldness.

The two FDA approved medications for treatment of androgenetic alopecia are most effective at stopping or slowing hair loss rather than regrowth of lost hairs.

Unfortunately, by the time a patient can actually see a pattern developing, he may have lost more than 50% of the hair in the thinning area,”says Keene. The HairDX test can help male patients at any age determine if they are at increased risk for hair loss due to genetics, and to then learn about available treatment options, before hair loss becomes advanced.”

Keene is President and Medical Director of Physician's Hair Institute, in Tucson, Arizona and is nationally recognized for her pioneering work in the hair transplant field.

She was the Program Chair for the September, 2007 International Society of Hair Restoration Surgeon's (ISHRS) conference in Las Vegas.

Keene is certified by the American Board of Surgery, and is a member of the, the International Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, the European Society of Hair Restoration Surgery, the Italian Society of Hair Restoration Surgery (ISHRS), the International Alliance of Hair Restoration Surgeons and Coalition of Independent Hair Restoration Surgeons. She is currently acting chairman of the Evidence Based Medicine Task force for the ISHRS.

“We are pleased to have a distinguished medical professional as Dr. Keene join HairDX,” says HairDX CEO Andy Goren. “This is a powerful statement about genetic testing for early onset pattern baldness.”