Hair Loss Treatment Similar To Latisse Set To Begin Safety Trials

Pharmaceutical giant Allergan has developed a new hair-growth drug designed to treat baldness and thinning hair that is slated to begin clinical safety trials later this month.

Reports indicate that the drug designed to treat hair loss is similar to the Latisse formulation, which according to hair restoration specialist Dr. Alan Bauman has already been used off-label by some and produced “modest hair growth” along the scalp.

Given Latisse’s overwhelming success in promoting eyelash growth and the product label’s warning that it can cause hair growth on other parts of the body that come in contact with the drug, it’s no surprise that Allergan created a product purposed to do just that.

Information on the FDA Clinical Trials website indicates that the Phase One trials for the hair-growth drug will focus on testing the safety of two formulations of bimatoprost, the same active ingredient found in Latisse at only a 0.03% dosage.

Dr. Bauman suggested that Allergan’s new hair loss treatment will likely use a higher concentration of bimatoprost, however the exact amounts contained in the drug being tested are not yet known.

Phase One trials are designed only to test the safety of the drug, so consumers will have to wait until Phase Two and Phase Three of testing are complete before any proven indication of the effectiveness of the hair loss treatment are known. But if the effectiveness of Latisse for eyelash growth is any indication, a higher concentration of bimatoprost is likely to stimulate hair growth on the scalp.

A new treatment for baldness would be a welcome advancement for the estimated 60-100 million Americans suffering from alopecia or thinning hair, as only a handful of other drugs have been approved for hair restoration.

“…bimatoprost could become the third FDA-approved drug for the treatment of baldness in men and only the second FDA-approved drug for women with hereditary hair thinning or female pattern baldness,” saidDr. Bauman.