4 ms·

Still patiently waiting for a miracle in the area of male pattern baldness... That is, something other than a can of crap you sprinkle on your head. Sigh.

• hackinthebochs 12y ago
  Actually I'm optimistic for this drug's use in regular MPB. It has been observed in the past that those on immunosupressant drugs or otherwise severely immuno-compromised do not get MPB. Another article I read mentioned that a doctor who dissected dormant hair follicles from MPB noted that it looked exactly like transplanted tissue that is being rejected in its new host. So yes, there are many good reasons to be cautiously optimistic. Of course the side effects of an untargetted immunosuppresant drug is likely too great for general MPB, but it may lead to further research. As it stands most companies do not do research directly for drugs targetting MPB because past drugs have been market failures.
  • ebfe 12y ago
    >As it stands most companies do not do research directly for drugs targetting MPB because past drugs have been market failures. Can you elaborate on how that is possible? Surely a cure for MPB would be a guaranteed billion dollar product.
    • hackinthebochs 12y ago
      I don't have any more specific information as my obsession with MPD has waned over the years, but the rationale for drug companies is basically if a drug doesn't make some Billions of dollars than its considered a failure. With limited money to spend for research it makes financial sense to spend it on drugs with the highest potential. Hairloss drugs haven't done well in the marketplace mainly because their effectiveness is limited along with a difficult regimen. But that is enough to deter drug companies from continued research.
  • awalton 12y ago
    I'm not optimistic at all. It cured this one type of baldness because the baldness was a symptom of the underlying autoimmunity. If MPB were a classical autoimmunity, it would have already been "cured" (as in, an effective treatment protocol would be laid out). Instead, it seems to be some not so subtle side effect of hormonal nuclear war, and scientists have spend decades hunting down the various little side chains to the main problem. The best hope yet for MPB seems to be PGD2 formation inhibitors or GPR44 antagonists which are still undergoing characterization. But my bet is that like DHT, PGD2 overexpression in scalps is simply yet another side effect of the greater convoluted underlying process, and that treating it directly won't be as effective as promised. (Or worse; GPR44 is implicated in some kinds of asthma as well, which means that a drug that targets the receptor might have a wider spectrum of activity -> worse side effects.)
    • hackinthebochs 12y ago
      Thanks for the info. My obsession with MPB has waned over the years so my information is no doubt out of date.