Allergan Inc (Irvine, CA) is about to launch clinical trials of a hair-growth treatment similar to its drug Latisse, which stimulates the growth of eyelashes.
The Phase 1 trial, scheduled to start in October 2010, will focus on the safety of two formulations of bimatoprost, which is the active ingredient in Latisse. This phase of the trials will include a total of about 28 patients — men with moderate male-pattern baldness and women with moderate female-pattern hair loss.
The FDA-approved Latisse as a treatment for eyelashes, with a warning that it can cause hair growth on other parts of the body that come in contact with the drug. Some doctors have already tried using Latisse as an “off-label” treatment for hair loss.
Hair-restoration expert Alan Bauman, MD, of Boca Raton, Fla, reported “modest hair growth” among patients who have been applying Latisse daily to their scalp.
Irvine-based Allergan might want more impressive results than that in order to make its hoped-for baldness remedy more commercially successful. Bauman predicted that “Allergan will likely test a stronger concentration for the use on the scalp than the 0.03% bimatoprost found in Latisse.”
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[Source: The Orange County Register]
