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- US drug company discover possible new hair loss treatment
US drug company discover possible new hair loss treatment
- By Susan Whitford
- Published 18th August, 2009
- Hair Loss Treatments
- Unrated
Susan Whitford
Susan Whitford has twelve years experience as a health and beauty journalist in the United Kingdom. Susan has worked as a staff writer and features editor on a number of consumer magazines.
US-based drug firm Allergan may have found a new treatment for hair loss while looking for cosmetic uses for its existing treatments.
The firms looked at the effects of bimatoprost, which is an active element in its drug Lumigan, which treats glaucoma and Latisse, which helps eyelashes re-grow.
The firm thinks the active ingredient could help people to grow more hair on their heads, but says the process required to establish this for sure could be long. Allergan’s executive vice president of research and development, Scott Whitcup, says, “unlike Lumigan for glaucoma, we don’t have the eight years-plus of clinical trials data so we’re sort of starting from scratch.”
He says it’s a little early to be giving timeframes within which a hair loss treatment featuring bimatoprost will be marketable.
Allergan says it is working quickly to get a the clinical trials started for the possible treatment, which could prove a serious money-spinner for the pharmaceutical firm.
The market for proven hair loss treatments and hair transplants is said to be worth around $1 billion a year globally.
The firms looked at the effects of bimatoprost, which is an active element in its drug Lumigan, which treats glaucoma and Latisse, which helps eyelashes re-grow.
The firm thinks the active ingredient could help people to grow more hair on their heads, but says the process required to establish this for sure could be long. Allergan’s executive vice president of research and development, Scott Whitcup, says, “unlike Lumigan for glaucoma, we don’t have the eight years-plus of clinical trials data so we’re sort of starting from scratch.”
He says it’s a little early to be giving timeframes within which a hair loss treatment featuring bimatoprost will be marketable.
Allergan says it is working quickly to get a the clinical trials started for the possible treatment, which could prove a serious money-spinner for the pharmaceutical firm.
The market for proven hair loss treatments and hair transplants is said to be worth around $1 billion a year globally.