Baldness cure not for everyone

Press, 12 June 1987, Page 5

Baldness cure not for everyone

This is a hair-raising story — but not for everyone.

An international pharmaceutical company, the Upjohn Inter-American Corporation, is about to release in New Zealand a treatment for male baldness.

Regaine Topical Solution is a liquid which, when applied regularly to the scalp, causes hair regrowth.

However, not all men should throw away their toupes, says Upjohn’s New Zealand manager, Mr John Marten.

“While Regaine works well for some men, not all men with male pattern baldness respond to therapy with the product. “The number of years that have elapsed since

the patient first began losing his hair, the specific area of hair loss, and the patient’s age and general physical health have all been suggested as influencing factors,” said Mr Marten.

"As a company we are very concerned that anyone who contemplates using this medicine has the correct expectations of what they will achieve by using it. Our concern is that it is not purveyed as a cure-all for hair , loss.”

In the biggest study on Regaine’s effectiveness, patients who had been losing their hair for two to 10 years showed better regrowth than those who had been losing their hair for 10 to 21 years, he said. Regaine, which contains 2 per cent of a substance

called minoxidal, was originally an orally administered drug used to treat cardio-vascular problems and severe hypertension, said Mr Marten.

When patients began to grow facial hair at the temples and sides of the face, tests were made which showed Regaine to be effective for hair regrowth, he said.

As an external treatment for hair growth, Regaine had no side effects although a few people in the study group had had dermatological problems such as dry or flaking skin, he said. Regaine must be applied twice a day to work and it could be four months before any results were seen, said Mr Mar-

ten. Once started, treatment must continue.

“Patients should be informed at the onset of therapy that if treatment is discontinued, newly grown hair may shed within two or three months.”

Regaine was a pharm-acy-only medicine which must be prescribed by a doctor, he said. Patients, however, would have to pay about $3 a day for the solution.

At about $lOOO a year, Mr Marten agreed that Regaine was relatively expensive compared with a toupe..

“It will have to be a value judgment made by the individual — a person will probably prefer to have his or her own hair.”