投资者押注脱发治疗市场爆发，多家药企竞逐新药

Drugmakers found a promising cure for the obesity epidemic, and their stocks were rewarded for it. Now investors are looking over a new crop of companies tackling more aesthetic problems and one that plagues, you know, some of the men in our lives, baldness. Pattern hair loss affects an estimated fifty million men and thirty million women. So women's problems are loss with women is an issue. And that's in The US, but there have been no proven new no new approved treatments since the late nineteen nineties.

For more on this potential market, joining us in person in studio right now is Bloomberg equities reporter, Avalon Pernell. Avalon not suffering from this problem. Also excellent hair. However You know, all three of us have I have the worst, but it's fine. Avalon, terrific story. One of the most read stories on the terminal over the weekend. Walk us through these drugs. Walk us through the boom for these stock prices.

Are these drugs going to be on shelves or prescribed by by doctors anytime soon? Not just yet. We're gonna have to be looking into the 2027, so next year before we're gonna see any of these drugs potentially come to market. But they could come as soon as next year? Exactly. As soon as next year. It's already it's basically September on Tuesday. So It is a good point. It is a good point. I mean, the two that are actually in the lead right now would be Cosmo, which could have a product on the shelves by early next year if they get an approval, and Verodermix, which is also set to potentially go ahead and apply.

So definitely something that we'll be keeping an eye on, especially when you consider the fact that veridermics only actually became public this year. So very quick. But the thing about GLP ones is they kind of fundamentally changed how people were treating obesity. Is there anything fundamentally different? Is the technology different? Has it evolved at all? Yes. Okay. So at least when it comes to the lay of the land, to say the least, you have three different areas that these companies are kind of looking to treat.

Cosmo is looking at, like, a lotion that you would add to your hair. Veradermics is creating a pill. And more specifically, at least for the women's side, there hasn't actually been an FDA approved treatment for hair loss that is a pill. Most of these women have had to take it off label, so that's definitely something that least analysts that we've spoken to have said could be a really big deal as well. And Abzai actually potentially has the biggest differentiated product.

They're looking at a shot that you would take maybe every six months or so. And then that would just keep your hair on your head. And they believe, especially given the fact that GLP one's kinda already proved that people are willing to take shots. Well, this is a big game changer. People are willing to use needles now. Right? So this does open badly. I will say six months is not a daily shot. So at least if you told me every six months I had to get a shot, it's not that big of a deal.

I'd probably go on to a doctor then. Avalon, what kind of health issue or side effects could there be from these drugs? Obviously, that's top of mind if I can go out and, I don't know, fly to Turkey and get a procedure or rub some Which has hysterically become so synonymous with hair transplants. But, yes, if you're not going to Turkey and you're gonna try some of these drugs, what could be the downsides? Exactly. I mean, it's still a minoxidil type of product.

So it's definitely some of the same, like, side effects that you're seeing potentially where it could be, like, heart palpitations, potentially some changes to your sex drive, and that's something that, obviously, a lot of people are not interested in. However, they're hoping that as more data comes because it is a longer going product that you're not gonna have as many issues as you would with taking something else that would be a little bit different that's already on the shelves right now.

Obviously, one of the reasons people are going down this road is because of the value of these GLP one drugs. The GLP one drugs do insane things for comorbidities based on recent studies. Right? If you've got high blood pressure, if you've got obesity, it takes down all of these other risk factors for your health. That is something it seems to me someone is more willing to pay out of pocket, sometimes as much as $1,200 a month for those drugs.

I don't I think it's gonna be a very small subset of population that's gonna pay something similar for hair loss. This is actually really an interesting discussion that we're also having with the analysts as well because they mentioned how at the end of the day, for the a lot of these folks who are going over to Turkey or choosing to have, like, various other treatments that you can have at, like, men's health clinics today, they're putting a lot of money into this.

So if you already have, like, a cash pay customer that is willing to spend maybe a $120 or to go to Turkey for 4,000, $6,000 Or to get it done in The US. I have several friends who've done it. It's about $20,000. It's 15 to 20. Yeah. Well, the one thing, though, when I think about some of these drugs, though, you're on it for life. Right? If I take the shot every six months, my hair looks great. Maybe I wanna That's a good question.

Duck some of those side effects, my hair falls out, presumably. This is also true, but I that's actually something that I found to be really interesting talking to one person who owns a clinic and is actually already giving treatments, not necessarily these because they're not approved just yet, is he mentioned how despite the fact that you would expect, like, maybe if the economy goes up or down, people would be more interested that for a lot of people, this is a vanity issue that they really care about.

You don't want your hair to fall out. So they tend to be fairly sticky, and they're gonna stick with that. Even if the economy has a downturn, they're still willing to pay. That's very interesting. I mean, I think about this is one of the few issues that I have seen the men in my life really get upset about and are willing to pay money. If you start, you know, losing No. My hairline is not as good as it could be, to be clear, but it is true.

Like 12. Your hairline is great. But it is something, though, again, with with kind of the novelty again, though, it is interesting to think about the this whole notion of a k shaped economy. If you can afford Yeah. To look better, why not? If there's a drug, even if it's out of pocket and it's a few thousand dollars. I mean, that's the other thing. It's what is it saying? You're not ugly. You're just poor. Is this are we gonna have, like, a k shaped hairline if these drugs come into play?

It's a great question. I mean, me and my editors were also talking about this. I mean, we have GLP ones. Potentially, we're gonna have new hair drugs as well. Like, what does the world look like if we're all kind of looking perfect to a certain degree? You can be skinny, and you can have hair forever in theory.