An injection to restore teeth to those who have lost them or never had them. It is the promise ofJapanese company Toregem Biopharmaa start-up from Kyoto University, founded 4 years ago. It is developing an antibody drug described as ‘the world’s first to regrow teeth’ and from September it will begin testing it on humans, following the positive results obtained on animals without significant side effects. The researchers’ goal is to reach the market in 2030, reports the Japanese newspaper ‘The Mainichi’. Toregem plans to offer the treatment for 1.5 million yen (almost 9 thousand euros) and to obtain insurance coverage, reports ‘Nikkei Asia’.
How it works, experimentation
The first phase of the clinical trial will last from September 2024 to August 2025. The therapy works by deactivating a protein called Usag-1, which inhibits tooth growth, and in phase 1 human trials will be administered intravenously to 30 healthy adults aged 30 to 64. The requirement for enlistment is the lack of at least one back tooth. Once the safety of the drug has been confirmed, we will move on to the next phase with administration to children aged 2 to 7 years who are missing at least 4 teeth since birth. Congenital tooth deficiency is estimated to affect approximately 1% of the population, while approximately 0.1% suffer from a condition known as oligodontia, which is the absence of 6 or more teeth. The researchers’ hope is to be able in the future to “grow teeth not only in people with congenital pathologies, but also in those who have lost them due to cavities or injuries”.
The medicine is the result of Katsu Takahashi’s studies at the Department of Oral and Maxillofacial Surgery at Kyoto University. Co-founder of Toregem and director of the Department of Dentistry and Oral Surgery at Kitano Hospital in Osaka, the scientist states: “We want to do something to help those who suffer from loss or absence of teeth. Although no permanent cure is available so far, we believe that people’s expectations” in this I feel “are high”. The intention is to satisfy them.
A personal experience on the company website
The president of Toregem Biopharma is Honoka Kiso and on the company website she shares a personal experience: “When I was in high school – she says – I lost 2 teeth due to a jaw bone disease and I underwent surgery. That experience made me it pushed me to become a dentist and when I went to university I had a dental implant.”
“I wanted to study the cause of my disease – continues Kiso – and understand how to regenerate the lost teeth, so I attended graduate school in 2008 and participated in Dr. Takahashi’s research”, personally observing that in mice models of dental deficiency, to whom the experimental drug was administered in preclinical studies, their teeth grew. Subsequently, the effectiveness was confirmed in dogs and will now be moved to humans.
“I definitely want to get to offering patients this therapy,” says Kiso. A drug that “grows teeth with a single injection, safely”.
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