A Cosmeceutical Cure for Baldness?

As far as the consumer products industry is concerned, it’s hands off of the baldness indication. Hair growth is one of the few areas FDA regulates and scans vigilantly, and cosmeceutical companies have been rightfully wary of pursuing any structure and function claim for the treatment of baldness and scalp health.

Certainly, there are myriad dietary supplements on the shelves that tout internal well-being for optimal hair, skin and nail health. Biotin is the most well-known of these ingredients; but, many other vitamins, minerals and other nutrients are heaped into these formulations for their anecdotal as well as practical uses. However, many companies have run into problems with FDA and FTC for making even limited claims related to hair loss and baldness for dietary supplements.

But, as one of the top five indications for consumer products companies to conquer, the idea and market for having an effective product to treat and or cure baldness for both women and men is far too attractive to ignore. This is not a new situation. Consider a “cure” from ancient Egypt that required the reciting of a magic spell to the sun god combined with ingesting a mixture of onions, iron, red lead, honey and alabaster. Enough of this mixture would likely have caused other symptoms and eventually death, so the sufferer wouldn’t have to worry about hair-loss anymore.

As desperate and bizarre as the ancients were in their quest for healthy hair and the status that it imparted in most cultures, our modern era is also filled with attempts by both pharmaceutical companies and marketers of natural remedies. The former includes treatments like Propecia® and Avodart® that can cause allergic reactions including rash, itching, hives, and swelling of the lips and face; problems with ejaculation (sexual function); breast tenderness and enlargement; and testicular pain. That is what Merck is willing to admit to and what FDA has accepted as “known” side effects.

At the same time, many natural marketers promote alternative, complimentary and integrative therapies (ACI) with scant scientific substantiation. Popular ingredients include stinging nettles, ginger juice, he shou wu, horsetail, catnip, southernwood and rosemary. This list is not all-inclusive, but includes some of the leading natural remedies used by eclectics and other homeopathic physicians with some positive results indicated over the last few hundred years.

Many modern treatments are based on the work identifying genetic causes for specific forms of alopecia (hair-loss). In October 2008, scientists at McGill University, Kings College London and GlaxoSmithKline discovered two genetic variants in Caucasians that together produce a seven-fold increase in the risk of male pattern baldness. Of course, the scientists said more research was necessary and they surmised the same results would be true in non-Caucasians. However, this type of research will take decades longer and cannot be considered cheap or effective for the majority of hair-loss sufferers, despite the belief held by these scientists that up to 14 percent of the male population may be helped by this research.

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