Latest Hair Loss Treatments (2024)

• Stem cell and RNA therapies are at the forefront of future hair loss treatments.
• The industry is steadily moving away from the more invasive hair regeneration solutions. 
• Researchers in the industry are actively working to better understand how hair and hair follicles are formed to come up with safer and more cutting-edge hair loss treatments.

MRNA’s basic function is to take the genetic information for making a protein from the nucleus of a cell and deliver it to the cytoplasm for production. The latest MRNA-based treatments for hair loss work by limiting the expression of the androgen receptor gene at the hair follicle level. 

Theoretically, having fewer androgen receptors at the hair follicle level would give your hair more time to grow thicker and longer. 

That said, while there are several nucleic acid-based drugs in circulation throughout most of Asia and Europe, the FDA has yet to approve these drugs for hair loss. The FDA’s major issue with these types of drugs is the side effects they can induce due to the inflammatory response they create upon delivery. 

In any case, numerous studies have showcased the impact of siRNA (small interfering RNA) in reducing the number of androgen receptors in mice and other non-human primates. The results so far have been promising.

Stem cell therapy is yet another hair loss treatment method that has not been approved by the FDA. However, that has not stopped biotech companies from working on making it a viable solution. Currently, there are a few different stem cell therapy techniques for regrowing hair. 

The most invasive of them is stem cell hair transplants. These are similar to normal hair transplants, except instead of removing a large amount of hair from the donor area for transplanting, this method removes a small skin sample from the patient. Which is then used to harvest hair follicles. 

A 2017 study showed a marked increase in hair density for 11 patients subjected to stem cell hair transplants. 

Other methods include injecting stem cells directly into the scalp to stimulate the growth of hair follicles. There have been a few promising studies showing an increase in hair density for a small sample size of patients. 

However, for this treatment method to be FDA-approved, these results will have to be reproduced in much larger samples. And by our estimation, that would require approximately 5 to 6 more years.

Hair cloning is an experimental hair loss treatment method where hair follicles are grown in vitro in a lab and then transplanted into the balding regions of your scalp. The research for this method originated in Japan, where researchers used rodent embryonic cells to develop and grow cultures of hair follicles. 

Several renowned surgeons, however, state that while hair cloning has been tried with good effect on mice for over half a decade, it’s always shown disappointing results in humans. 

Still, work on this potential hair loss treatment method is ongoing and is only going to progress faster as technology advances. That said, we believe that true hair cloning in humans is still decades away.

The JAK inhibitor is a relatively new and experimental hair loss treatment method that is helping people suffering from Alopecia Areata regrow their hair. The FDA has even approved a few JAK inhibitors for conditions that dermatologists treat, including hair loss. 

Among these, Baricitinib has proven to be the most potent inhibitor for treating Alopecia Areata, a type of hair loss that is triggered when your immune system starts attacking your hair follicles. 

There is also some clinical evidence that suggests JAK inhibitors Tofacitinib and Ruxolitinib could also be effective in stimulating hair growth alongside Baricitinib. 

These inhibitors work by targeting and blocking certain enzymes (Janus Kinases or JAKs). As a result, they effectively reduce the immune system’s attack on your hair follicles. 

The discovery of JAK inhibitors is significant because it offers people suffering from alopecia areata a promising alternative treatment to conventional hair loss drugs like Minoxidil and Finasteride. 

Pattern baldness is primarily caused by the hormone DHT (dihydrotestosterone) when it binds to hair follicles and starts shrinking them down until they can’t produce hair. 

In a bid to directly block the negative effect of DHT on the scalp, the Italian biotech company Cassiopea has come up with a new topical treatment for hair loss named Breezula. 

The company conducted phase 2 of their clinical trials back in 2021 to test the efficacy of 5% and 7.5% of their clascoterone solution in comparison with 2% minoxidil. 70 females were randomly assigned to each group and asked to use one of the two solutions daily for 6 months. 

Surprisingly, only the women under the age of 30 showed a significant increase in the target area hair count after having applied 5% Breezula for 6 months. 

Nonetheless, the company believed these to be positive results and is currently proceeding with phase 3 of their clinical trials to identify the female subgroups that would benefit the most from the treatment. 

However, until we get more conclusive evidence and results that the product works we wouldn’t recommend it over conventional hair loss medications. 

P-3074 is a new topical formulation of conventional Finasteride developed by Polichem. Its 0.25% concentration is supposed to ensure that a balanced amount of Finasteride stays at the surface level of the scalp. 

This will supposedly allow the active compound enough time to pierce through the layers of the skin all the way down to the layer where most of the hair bulbs are located. Also, the topical nature of the drug would have ensured that patients experience little to no side effects. 

A study was conducted to compare the efficacy of topical P-3074 with 1% oral Finasteride back in 2011, but the results were never made part of the public record. 

They did conduct another study in 2017 to compare the results of P-3075 and 1% oral finasteride once again. This one consisted of 60 male AGA (androgenetic alopecia) patients. 

However, much like the earlier studies the results were never published, hence we wouldn’t recommend experimenting with 0.25% topical Finasteride over conventional oral 1% Finasteride. At least not until they release the results.

In March 2024, the Aderans company entered into a partnership with Stemson Therapeutics to fast-track the development and commercialization of a line of hair regeneration therapeutics products. Products that are all based on Aderans’ proprietary hair regeneration cell therapy technology. 

Aderans was founded in 1968 and is the parent company of both HairClub® and Bosley®, two of the most reputable and successful hair restoration companies in the world. Both companies offer a wide range of hair restoration solutions including hair transplants and non-surgical hair replacement systems. 

Aderans have already conducted clinical trials of their cell therapy solution to treat early-stage AGA in both men and women. The results showed that a single dose of hair follicle cells injected into the target scalp area can produce long-lasting and durable hair growth results. A release date for the products hasn’t been mentioned as of yet.

AttisLab is a 3D organoid culturing hair regrowth company based in South Korea. It was founded relatively recently in 2019. However, since then they have scaled their operations massively and have plans to enter the Japanese medical market by commercializing autologous stem cell treatment. 

The company’s basic technology for hair regeneration relies on culturing adult hair follicle stem cells as 3D organoids, which will be preserved in a cell storage system. That said, they are yet to conduct any clinical trials to test the efficacy of their technology against conventional hair loss treatments. 

However, we did find a study that was able to successfully develop a human hair follicle in vitro. This hair follicle when transplanted into skin biopsies showed significant hair bud generation. 

Having said that, the commercialization of this new hair regeneration method is still quite far away since the company itself has not conducted any studies on the efficacy of its product. 

In June 2023, CosmeRNA, a hair loss treatment method that used RNA to help reverse hair loss went on sale in Europe. The company behind the product is siRNAgen Therapeutics based in South Korea. 

This new drug basically works by interacting with messenger RNA to ultimately limit the expression of the androgen receptor gene at the hair follicle level. Thereby allowing our hair the time to grow thicker, longer and be quickly replaced when it is shedding time. The product is not yet available in the U.S. as it is yet to be approved by the FDA. 

The clinical trials conducted by the company have shown success in selectively suppressing androgen receptor expression in vitro as well. The results also showed that CosmeRNA could be delivered efficiently to human follicle dermal papilla cells. 

However, the company has yet to conduct any human trials, which makes the drug still quite an experimental hair loss treatment at this point. 

The overall outlook for hair loss treatments in 2024 looks incredibly promising with stem cell and RNA therapy taking the lead in bringing about a new age of hair loss treatments. 

Aderans’ partnership with Stemson Therapeutics can also be considered a huge step in the right direction to producing less invasive and faster methods of hair regeneration. 

However, it needs to be said that we are still a fair few years away until these experimental treatments become viable alternative solutions to treating hair loss. 

That said, the future does look quite promising, especially since the industry is actively trying to reduce the side effects that come with hair loss medications.