For men watching their hairline retreat further north with each passing birthday, reinforcements may finally be on the way. An experimental hair-loss pill has delivered promising results in a late-stage clinical trial, potentially giving millions of blokes a reason to hold off on shaving it all off, committing to the Jason Statham look, or booking that trip to Turkey.
The drug, VDPHL01, is an extended-release version of minoxidil, the hair-growth ingredient you’ve almost certainly seen lurking in the grooming aisle. Developer Veradermics reports that men taking the pill once a day gained an average of 28.6 hairs per square centimetre of scalp over six months, rising to 36.4 for those taking it twice daily. The placebo group managed just 6.6. More than 1,000 balding men have now participated in the company’s two registration-directed trials, with results from both showing promising hair growth.
The idea of an oral hair-loss treatment isn’t entirely new. Dermatologists in Australia have been prescribing low-dose oral minoxidil off-label for years, while finasteride has been helping men cling to their remaining follicles for decades. What makes VDPHL01 interesting is its proprietary extended-release formulation, designed specifically for pattern hair loss with the aim of improving tolerability and reducing cardiovascular risks associated with minoxidil.
If approved by the US Food and Drug Administration, it could become the first new oral treatment for pattern baldness approved in almost three decades. That’s a long time in any field, but particularly one where the prevailing advice has largely amounted to rubbing something on your head and hoping for the best.
Naturally, we’re not quite at the point of cancelling any transplant consultations. VDPHL01 remains experimental, with US regulatory approval still to come and any Australian approval requiring a separate assessment by the Therapeutic Goods Administration.
Still, it’s a promising development in a category where men have spent decades choosing between costly transplants, ongoing treatments and pretending they’ve always wanted to look like Bruce Willis.
Hang in there, gents.