Is PP405 the Miracle Hair Loss Drug We've Been Promised?

If you’ve been even vaguely following the developments around hair loss treatments for the last few decades, then you’re no stranger to false hope. Every few years, a new drug or treatment option is hyped up, typically for its remarkable ability to regrow hair in bald mice, and after dominating the news cycle for 24 or 48 hours, it is never heard from again. So, when Pelage Pharmaceuticals began touting its novel hair loss drug, PP405, and the fawning headlines started to roll in (“Did UCLA Just Cure Baldness?” and “The Great Unbalding” were standouts), I barely took notice. And then they received $120 million dollars in series B funding from Google Ventures. And then Time Magazine named PP405 one of their “best inventions of 2025.” And then, dear reader, I took notice. Unlike most of the promised cures of yore, most of which were touted by a combination of mystics, fraudsters and quacks, PP405 is the brainchild of three prominent UCLA scientists, each of whom is a professor in either molecular biology or chemistry. And unlike most of those pretender companies of the past, Pelage is generating real results in the present. Their first human trials were conducted in 2023, and their Phase 2 trials demonstrating both safety and efficacy are happening right now, concluding some time in December 2025. In other words, this is simultaneously the most exciting new hair loss treatment and the one most likely to be available to the average person in the near future. RELATED: Why Men Go Bald and What to Do About It Needless to say, then, the hype is now off the charts, with some ambitious hair loss sufferers even turning to black market chemists in a desperate attempt to preempt FDA approval and create the compound themselves (note: don’t do this — seriously, it’s a terrible idea). But the question remains: is PP405 more hype than promise? Are bald and balding men and women destined to be disappointed yet again? Or is this, at long last, the scientific miracle everyone has been waiting for? How PP405 Works Before we get to predictions, let’s take a look at the science, because it’s downright fascinating. Hair loss drugs of the past focused on two main pathways for treating hair loss: blocking DHT via an oral compound called finasteride in the hopes of staving off hair follicle miniaturization or promoting blood flow in the scalp via a topical compound called minoxidil. Under their respective brand names, Propecia and Rogaine, these two drugs dominated the hair loss market for decades, but the results, for most people, were imperfect at best. For some people, Rogaine could regrow a lot of hair, though typically more on the crown than on the temples, and for some people, Propecia could prevent or at least delay hair loss, though also more on the crown than on the temples. PP405 takes a different approach, eschewing the potential side effects of hormonal changes by targeting cellular metabolism. Specifically, it inhibits the mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) of the hair follicle, forcing it to switch from a mitochondrial-based metabolism to an energy pathway known as aerobic glycolysis, which happens to be the preferred pathway for rapid growth. In layman’s terms, PP405 operates by targeting dormant and even long-dormant hair follicles and bombarding them with signals to enter their anagen (growth) phase, thus producing long, terminal hairs, the kind you long to run your fingers through when you’re bored. What Makes PP405 Different? Existing hair loss treatments all operate well downstream of PP405, and have shown almost no ability to re-awaken dormant hair follicles. Worse, still, they have severe limitations: finasteride operates on your hormones, with some people experiencing disruptive symptoms to their sexual health, while minoxidil can aggravate scalp skin and cause dandruff. Together, they’ve been the best we’ve had for a long time now, but, as evidenced by the huge number of bald and balding people walking around, they’re at best a band-aid solution awaiting a more permanent fix. Granted, PP405 isn’t widely available yet, and we only have the company’s own data to go off of, so take what follows with the tiniest grain of salt, but already there are major reasons for optimism. First, it’s a topical solution that doesn’t target your hormones, so the potential for side effects is very low, and the early testing results confirm that. Second, because it operates upstream of the existing treatments, it has the potential to awaken dormant hair follicles, meaning even men who’ve been shiny bald for a long time might reasonably expect to see regrowth. If the hype is real, the worst case scenario is that we’ve now added a third potent anti-hair loss drug to our arsenal, one that could easily work in tandem with existing treatments to help us achieve better results. In a best case scenario, we have on our hands a drug with the potential to reverse hair loss and regrow thick, terminal hairs, especially in people in the earlier stages of hair loss. What’s the PP405 Timeline? At this point, it’s more a question of “when” rather than “if,” and that by itself is very exciting news. We’ll have a much clearer picture of their status at the conclusion of their Phase 2 trials, the results of which will be announced imminently, but assuming those are positive, 2026 will be the year of Phase 3, after which it’s a matter of FDA approval, which will be contingent on the drug’s safety. In a best case scenario, PP405 will be available in late 2027, but the smart money will be on a 2028 release to the general consumer. For people desperate to regain their lost locks, that can seem like an intolerable wait, but in a field dominated for centuries by snake oil salesmen and only in the past 40 years amenable to scientific treatment, PP405 should be considered a triumph. At long last, the end of hair loss is truly in sight. You Might Also Dig: Best Shampoos for MenTips to Prevent Hair LossThe Benefits of Scalp Exfoliation