Hair loss can be a very distressing condition to be experiencing at any age. It can be aesthetically unappealing and may affect your self esteem. There are many reasons why it can occur and there are some corresponding therapies you can use to minimise the condition.
Some of these therapies include medicines like Minoxidil and Finasteride. It is surprising that up till now, only these two drugs have been FDA approved for male pattern baldness. This is an ever growing market as more people now have the financial means and the need to slow down their hair loss or even stop it completely.
Is a hair loss breakthrough round the corner?
Recently, a compound called Bimatoprost was developed to join in the competition to beat male pattern alopecia.
The pharmaceutical company, Allergan, has just registered a clinical trial with the United States Food and Drug Administration (FDA) to show that Bimatoprost is far better at treating androgenetic alopecia (AGA) than any other existing products on the market.
The clinical trial is expected to have 90 participants and will commence actively in March 2016. The trial will end in April 2017 with all the results published soon after.
Participants will all be male between the ages of 18 years to 49 years. These people will have to have some male pattern baldness that is mild to moderate. There are some exclusion criteria like having underlying medical conditions like osteoporosis or Paget’s disease and they cannot be HIV positive or have drug or alcohol abuse issues in the last twelve months.
Varying concentrations of Bimatoprost will be administered daily by different, corresponding groups of individuals.
Preliminary drug testing has shown that both the 1% and 3% Bimatoprost solutions show better results in comparison to the 5% Minoxidil. However, non-scientific feedback from the volunteers in the preliminary testing showed that there was a marginally higher preference for the Minoxidil.
Minoxidil has been on the market for years and has a loyal following amongst its users. They improved on the formulation and released a foam product that did not drip down the face, much to the relief of the regular consumers. Recently, even a women’s formulation was released to address that portion of the hair loss market.
Bimatoprost’s claim to fame will be the new mechanism it employs by which it retards hair loss compared to Minoxidil or Finasteride.
Hopefully, the Bimatoprost clinical trial show great results with no significant side effects to give consumers more of a product choice for androgenetic alopecia.
