Japanese drug ‘will let people grow new teeth’

Kyoto-based pharmaceutical start-up has reported successful results in laboratory experiments using mice, ferrets and dogs.

A Japanese pharmaceutical company has successfully grown new teeth in mice and ferrets and will start testing the drug on humans next summer. Picture: The Times

Scientists in Japan are developing a drug intended to grow new teeth in people who have lost them through genetic defects or decay.

Toregem Biopharma, a pharmaceutical start-up based in Kyoto, has reported successful results in laboratory experiments using mice, ferrets and dogs. It plans to begin testing the drug on humans next summer.

At present, the only way to replace lost or missing teeth is with artificial implants or prosthetics. The new drug works by stimulating dormant “tooth buds”, which normally dwindle and disappear in people who have grown a full set of healthy teeth. The research was prompted by the examination of mice with extra teeth.

The scientists discovered that the difference was caused by a deficiency in uterine sensitisation-associated gene 1, or USAG-1, which inhibits the unnecessary growth of tooth buds.

Five years ago, the researchers succeeded in growing new teeth in mice and ferrets. It is hoped that the new drug, which will come in the form of an injection, will do the same in humans by suppressing USAG-1 to encourage dormant tooth buds to grow into new teeth.

“Anti-USAG-1 antibody treatment in mice is effective in tooth regeneration and can be a breakthrough in treating tooth anomalies in humans,” the researchers at Toregem wrote last year in the journal Regenerative Therapy.

“With approximately 0.1 per cent of the population suffering from congenital tooth agenesis [failure of teeth buds to develop in the womb] and 10 per cent of children worldwide suffering from partial tooth loss, early diagnosis will improve outcomes and the quality of life of patients.”

The early human research will be carried on children with anodontia, in whom some or all teeth fail to grow.

Katsu Takahashi, co-founder of Toregem Biopharma and head of dentistry at Kitano Hospital in Osaka, said: “A child’s lack of teeth can affect the development of the jaw bone. We hope the drug will serve as a key to solving those problems.”

The Times