Advert for Collaborator in Biological Research for Topical Product to assist with Scalp Cooling during Chemotherapy

Paxman is a medical technology company with an established leadership position in the Scalp Cooling sector. The Paxman Scalp Cooling System (PSCS) minimizes hair loss in connection with chemotherapy treatment. The product is distributed to over 60 markets internationally, including: France, Germany, The Netherlands, Switzerland, Sweden, Russia, Brazil, Mexico, Australia, and the U.S. Scalp cooling is an important treatment, which has a strong clinical support and is a fully established therapy in many countries throughout the world.

Chemotherapy-induced alopecia is the most feared side effect of treatment in >75% of patients. Often patients feel this is the most traumatic side effect of their cancer treatment and not only can it lead to social isolation, but hair loss can affect self-image more than breast surgery. Eight percent of patients refuse chemotherapy or request a less efficacious treatment due to the prospect of hair loss.

The company has extensive global experience - since 2003, more than 65 clinical studies have been conducted in more than 17 countries and includes the first-ever randomized clinical trial to evaluate modern scalp cooling, which took place at several Cancer Centers in the United States as part of the FDA (Food and Drug Administration) clearance process.

As part of Paxman's investment in biological research, it has been discovered that chemotherapy drugs induce oxidative stress inside cells of the hair follicles which causes cell toxicity (and ultimately hair loss).

Therefore, a novel patented combinatorial approach was designed to reduce cell toxicity at "sub-optimal" cooling temperatures and has the potential to dramatically enhance the efficacy of the Paxman scalp cooling device.

This intervention combines cooling with treatment with a reactive oxygen species (ROS) inhibitor (antioxidant compound) delivered into cells to reduce oxidative stress (and these findings have been confirmed using whole follicles mini-organ cultures).

Using in vitro models, the company have now established a panel of antioxidant compounds which has shown extremely good efficacy in minimising or preventing cytotoxicity in combination with cooling.

Paxman now need the expertise to be able to target these antioxidant compounds to human hair follicles of the scalp. This will require expertise in pharmaceutics in order to prepare topical agents with appropriate formulations for delivery of these antioxidants to the hair follicles.

The identified third-party organisation must have both the cell biology/skin research as well as pharmaceutics expertise and research capabilities in order to be in position to deliver the proposed project.