This paves the way for the medicine to be commercially available as early as 2030.
The intravenous treatment will be tested for its efficacy on human dentition, after it successfully grew new teeth in ferret and mouse models with no significant side effects.
"We want to do something to help those who are suffering from tooth loss or absence," said lead researcher Katsu Takahashi, head of dentistry and oral surgery at Kitano Hospital.
"While there has been no treatment to date providing a permanent cure, we feel that people's expectations for tooth growth are high.".
In the ferret study, the drug resulted in the growth of a new tooth (fourth from left), and it also strengthened bone in the existing set Kitano Hospital.
It resulted in new teeth emerging in the mouths of mice and ferrets, species that share close to the same USAG-1 properties as humans.
"The USAG-1 protein has a high amino acid homology of 97% between different animal species, including humans, mice, and beagles," the researchers noted. »
