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June 2007


Are Pharmas Addicted to Lifestyle Drugs?


Baldness Won't Kill You

Even when there is plenty of capital riding on a new product, safety concerns can derail it.

A couple of years back, biotech firm Curis thought it had a promising new treatment for baldness. So did Procter & Gamble, which partnered with Cambridge (Mass.)-based Curis to develop it.

But on May 9, P&G pulled out of the deal, citing unspecified safety issues in early trials. "Safety profiles are especially important for these drug candidates since, unlike…cancer and stroke, male pattern baldness is not a life-threatening disease," said Curis Chief Executive Daniel Passeri in a statement.

Without P&G's support, it could be difficult for the unprofitable Curis to continue studying hair loss.

Such disappointments haven't dissuaded larger companies from making a run at baldness.

Even though millions of men in the U.S. are destined to lose most of their hair, the treatment market today is a mere $1 billion a year.

That may be because even drugs with high brand awarenesss, such as Rogaine and Propecia, often don't work so well.

Pfizer is testing two drugs to treat hair loss. Its most advanced candidate was originally tested as an asthma treatment, because it relaxes smooth muscle cells in blood vessels such as those found in lung airways, allowing patients to breathe.

"We found the compound was not well-suited [to treating] this disease, but we are now exploring its potential in hair loss," says Pfizer spokesman Stephen Lederer in an e-mail.

He adds that scientists still don't fully understand why relaxing certain blood vessels leads to hair growth, though this appears to be the same mechanism exploited by Rogaine.