Finasteride Injections for Hair Loss

in 2019, South Korean Researchers successfully tested finasteride injections as a new potential treatment for hair loss. They developed a unique finasteride-loaded microspheres delivery system for these injections. I am updating this post due to new developments in this technology and clinical trial initiation in 2021 (see further below and h/t to “James”).

Finasteride Injections
Finasteride injections and hair growth.

The best part of this treatment is that you only need to get one injection treatment per month. While the initial research was in mice, the scientists seem to be confident that this will work in humans too.

Note that others have tried this in the past too.

  • One interesting successful test in Brazil in 2019 entailed injections containing a blend of minoxidil, finasteride, biotin, and D-panthenol.
  • A more extensive study was done in India in 2017. The results in this one found 10 percent of patients taking oral finasteride getting loss of libido; versus 5 percent of patients undergoing mesotherapy treatment with finasteride.

Finasteride Injections Superior to Oral Finasteride

Most importantly, the hair growth results from the finasteride-loaded microsphere injections were superior to those from oral finasteride. The injection group’s hair growth success rate was 93.3 percent, compared to the oral formulation group’s 86.7 percent. Dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels remained lower and comparable to oral finasteride even 10 weeks after a single injection.

Dr. Kim Beom-joon from Chung-Ang University Hospital led this work. The researchers also published an important related paper in June 2019 titled: “Development of finasteride polymer microspheres for systemic application in androgenic alopecia.

The 5α-reductase inhibitory effect of the finasteride-loaded microspheres lasts for 4 to 8 weeks following one single injection. The injections and delivery technology are manufactured by Inventage Lab. Dr. Kim states that by minimizing the intake of finasteride, potential side effects such as erectile dysfunction and decreased libido would be reduced.

Update: Clinical trial page for IVL3001 finasteride injections from Inventage Lab.

Daewoong, Inventage Lab and Clinical Trials in 2021

In September 2021, Daewoong Pharmaceutical (South Korea) won approval to commence Phase 1 clinical trials for its finasteride injections in Australia. Their product is known “IVL3001”. These finasteride injections will be administered once every month to three months subcutaneously.

Daewoong aims to release this product in 2023, so there must be some way in which the trials will be allowed to proceed fast. IVL3001 is an injection formulation of finasteride-loaded polymer microspheres.

In June 2021, Daewoong reached an agreement with Inventage Lab to develop long-acting hair loss drugs using the latter’s controlled drug release technology. This drug delivery system (DDS) is known as IVL-PPFM and it facilitates production of microspheres with “controllably repeatable” sphere sizes.

We have all been waiting patiently for many years to get access to a reputable branded topical finasteride. Our best hope is Polichem and its P-3074, which was finally released in parts of Europe in 2021. Perhaps finasteride injections will turn out to be an even more effective hair loss treatment. Assuming side effects are negligible.

Dutasteride Injections

Note that in 2017, we already read about mesotherapy (injections) with dutasteride giving great hair growth results. I wrote another post on dutasteride injections in 2018. This treatment is especially popular in Spain.

I hope that in the near future, we can soon also get finasteride injections to treat our hair loss. Especially in clinics in the US. And down the road, via a delivery system designed by a professional biopharmaceutical company such as Daewoong.

85 thoughts on “Finasteride Injections for Hair Loss”

  1. I think I speak for most of us on this forum; we’re tired of these companies coming out with bandaids over a bullet wound. Tsuji or Shiseido/Replicel or bust.

    1. I second that! Albeit I am pessimistic, I really hope major breakthroughs become available in 2020. Come on Tissuse, Tsuji, Replicel, and HairClone!

      1. Tsuji’s treatment will cost 190k. Might as well not come out with it, none of us will be able to afford that.

  2. Ah damn, im a norwood 1 or 1,5 and just want a perfectly straight hairline. Im scared of furture hair loss because im shedding so much. Im just getting a hairtransplant and wait for 5years (should be lasting that long, before hair loss get further) and getting hair cloning done.
    hopefully there will be an option to kill all remaining dht sensitive pussy hair grafts, to replace them with cloned safe donor grafts.

  3. If I were a mouse, I’d have four different cures for baldness and an anecdote to live 40% longer. Why are human results always THAT much different from mice?? And why do researchers even waste their time with mice when almost nothing they discover translates to humans?

    Aw well, I’m with the other commenters in hoping for a cure from Riken, though their silence is deafening. Have they skimmed enough investor money to close up shop yet? Have they been secretly bought out by Hair Club? Intercytex all over again?

    Any good news or a single photo of results in a human would change our worlds. Pray for it people :-) 2020 fast approaches

  4. If the world were fair there would be a cure for hairloss for humans but it would make mice go bald.

    For what its worth ADMIN you do an incredible job with this website but I just SomeDay that it is not needed (I mean that it a good way). Thanks.

    1. My dream was always that this website would not be needed by the end of 2020:-) And I would be busy enjoying Ronald Reagan hair for the next 50 plus years:-) At the moment, it looks like Tsuji is the only chance that this may happen.

      1. Tsuji’s 190k-300k cure? How we gonna get that? Will take a lifetime to save up, might as well give up at this point

        1. Are these numbers something that was put out there by Tsuji himself? I’ve seen it mentioned a lot but have no idea how reliable the source is.

          1. Dr. Tsuji: Hair Loss Cure in 2020 or 2021
            After you translate the video, it seems like Dr. Tsuji will release his cure in 2020 and/or 2021. It will initially cost 20 million to 40 million Japanese Yen ($190,000 – $380,000 per today’s exchange rates). Prices will then slowly come down over the next decade.

            LOL, we have to wait another 10 years to afford it. Kill me now please.

            1. Thanks for your reply! As bad as it is to wait another 10 years it would be great to have something that works on humans.

      2. Aclaris comes out with their High Dose JAK trial results in early summer 2020 should be very interesting. Otherwise agree Tsuji is the only other real choice.

  5. Hi there! I’m 40 and i have hair on my head but it’s sparse and month to month i get closer to baldness. This process started 6-7 years ago. I’m thinking about hair transplantation but don’t want it really… Hope Admin has right and we will have an efficient medicine in a year or two…

    Thank you for this site and keep going!

  6. Tsuji announced a cure available on the market for 2020, yet the firms collaborating with him didn’t release any countable scientific study so far. it’s October 2019 guys. On the other hand we have replicel who first need to release their injection device in 2050 and then delay RCH-01 for another 10 years. Looks like we’ll read about electricity helmets and fin/minox in all variants for quite a while

  7. Tsuji will never happenm wake up people
    SPECIALLY in 2020, lol. 2019 is almost over and there’s nothing in the Tsuji horizon.

    1. I hate to agree with naysayers but I’m of the same opinion as John. And if Tsuji were to happen by the end of 2020, the idea that it would be readily available to anyone that wanted the treatment and somewhat affordable is probably a dream. I THINK that it’s probably many years away, it it comes to light.

      1. The one thing I’ll say is that even just a cure announcement with photos proving the cure would be miraculous and sustain all of us for the couple of years it takes to become available to the public. I would walk around as a confident bald man knowing a cure is real, and I’d make sure the ladies in my life knew I was getting hair soon :-)

        1. Totally agree slick. Recently everybody goes crazy about the price for tsujis treatment, yet we do not even know by know if a cure is even existing. Just knowing that despite not being able to afford it but that it’s theoretically available would be blessing in the current state. Just picture how many generations of men had to deal with this while being conscious that there’s no solution at all to this.

        2. Couldn’t agree more about the comfort that an announcement backed by photos of consistent undeniable regrowth would bring…………even if it were guaranteed maintenance with a marginal regrowth step forward. Samumed is in phase 3 and not 1 photo that I am aware of. It will be interesting to see if Follica releases any photos when they move to their pivotal trial………….hopefully within the next 2 months.

          1. Yes! Even if a proven cure was $250,000, at least we’d all know it’s possible and will only get cheaper. That, in itself, would be a life-changer. I’d be thrilled knowing the potential for my young nephews.

            1. Most hair loss treatment scams to date have been priced at less than $10000. So a crazy high starting price actually makes me more confident that it will be legitimate. Kind of like the original expensive Tesla’s.

              Not to mention that Dr. Tsuji has never seemed even remotely like a conman or even a salesman to me.

      2. Tsuji bragged he would have a cure in 2020 back when he hadn’t done a single experiment on humans. Now he’s saying the cost is out of this world, meaning his treatment will be clunky and painstaking. These things don’t bode well in my mind.

        1. Considering the demand is massive, they don’t have a massive scale business, and that they want to recoup costs, it makes perfect sense. Ppl don’t create cosmetic solutions for charity.

  8. I hope it gets this Kim a PhD, if he does not have one already. But cosmetically speaking, it’s useless. 93.3% injection effective minus 86.7% oral effective = only 6.6 more effective than oral finasteride. You would need an expensive microscope to tell the difference.

    The article mainly highlights its convenience rather than effectiveness compared to taking pills, but I challenge this as well. It is much more convenient to buy a bag of pills once then swallow one a day for several months before re-stocking than it is to go to a clinic once a month, book an appointment, wait in a line and risk infection from a used needle.

    1. A used needle? Wtf. What backwards ass country are you from that a doctor would use a used needle? That’s only a thing among heroin addicts.

      1. You miss the bigger picture. Of course a doctor in a 1st world country would not willingly use a used needle. But let’s suppose this treatment takes off. We all know how expensive medical treatment in the USA can be and how many baldies it has, how long before people start going to “street doctors” for a cheaper cost? That’s even before you consider places like India, China, South America.

        1. Scott there I times I agree with you, this sounds Non logical. Fact is you will not eliminate baldness by telling bald men not to bare children. Sometimes your hair loss comes from your mother who three generations ago had a bald grandfather. Giving generations of mating in the human race I can guarantee everyone had a bald gene somewhere in there family. Your comments are always very bright, this one sounded foolish. We need a cure for baldness not stopping bald men from having kids

          1. Bob, it was a joke. A joke you over-analysed. Dissecting a joke is like dissecting a frog. Nobody learns anything and the frog dies.

  9. We must do something guys. How about spread our problem all world wide?
    Women do the victims all the time for their silly problems. Instead our problem undermines our life!
    What can we do to speed up the research? People joke about baldness instead of cure it.

    1. If the problem can’t be solved, perhaps it could be eliminated. Baldness is a genetic problem. You could try persuading all balding people to not have children.
      This would not only solve baldness but would cut more than halve the world population and thereby reduce CO2 emissions to the point of being a climate change enthusiast’s wet dream.

  10. Follica or bust guys. It’s the only thing we got coming out in the next year or two that will offer 30 to 100cm2 hairs and thickening of existing which is a cure for nw1 to nw4. All this cloning stuff is still in early stages regardless of what all these articles say. I’ve been hearing the same story about cloning since 2001.

  11. Why would they do a mouse study for something like a fin injection? Hasn’t this already been done on humans? Why not just do a human study– oh wait that would cost more money and would actually be useful.

  12. At the moment, I’d settle for a treatment that works. A treatment that offers definite, noticeable, significant improvement for everyone who uses it.

    Finasteride might stop things getting worse, and it might work for many people, but it rarely improves the situation, and it doesn’t work for lots of people. Minoxidil might work for some, but positive results aren’t what I’d call “impressive” or “significant”.

    Yes, they are better than nothing. But it would great — genuinely great — to have something that actually works. Something that actually regrows hair to a noticeable extent. Something that made a real, positive difference. Not something that makes you think “Yeah, I think I’ve seen some re-growth. I think the thinning isn’t as bad as it was.”

    We are unlikely to go straight from the current situation to a working cure. The next step is a treatment that gives positive results (noticeable thickening, reactivation of dormant follicles). Then a treatment that improves on those results. And so on, until we get a proper cure.

    I hope I’m wrong. But for now, I’d just settle for something that gives us some thickening or reverses our loss situation by a few years. That would be life-changing. That would be great, great news. That would at least show us that we were on the right path, that a cure might be possible.

    1. I agree with Paul. Comparing it to cancer, in the past 40 years we have had no magical cure to cancer, but we do have new methods to detect some types of it much earlier that has significantly improved survival rates and newer drugs/therapies to prolong life even if you were diagnosed too late. Incremental improvements, but still better than nothing.

      I hope for hair loss it does not go this way, but statistical probability favours this outcome.

  13. So this means that dutasteride is far more effective than this treatment and yet it seems to not work quite well for some people.

    PASS

  14. Another solution would be to spread a virus that causes balding to all humans, now the problem is solved we are all bald;)

  15. Baldy baldy over ther, what’s it like to have no hair. Is it hot or is it cold? What’s it like to be bald?

  16. With all due respect , for the most part I come here for entertainment purposes. I’ve been reading about these different types of studies for decades and nothing comes to fruition. It is entertainment….you want to know how to get the next baldness treatment fast tracked? That’s easy, you have to recruit high profile people to go public with how this affects are lives and also get them to donate some cash. From there start a go fund me page about creating the next hairloss treatment and continue to advertise it, make it public big time and the money would roll in. Think about how many average Joe’s out there would say “you know what, I’m throwing $20 in that hat cause I want to keep my hair”. It would grow like a monster and millions of people would place anonymous donations. Think of how the bucket challenge went viral 2 years ago. But we need someone high profile to kick start it so it makes headlines, then the soldiers like you and I make it spread like a wild fire. I’m probably talking to myself at this point because I noticed most millennials want the world to come to them.

    1. Agreed. Shiseido’s net profit in 2018 was 16bn yen, which in US dollars today is $561,932,000.
      I doubt any gofundme page would ever reach that.

      1. @scott that was their profit meaning a lot of that goes into their pockets and growing the business. I’m saying donations would add up and a team would be put together to collaborate on current research to come up with a new treatment. The money that shiseido makes does not all go toward their hairloss research, not even a small fraction from what I understand.

        1. Very true. But a mere few million by Shiseido is more than you will ever raise by crowdfunding. They built a purpose-built facility in Kobe to finish and test the RCH-01 product; infrastructure plus research personnel is not cheap.
          This in turn raises an interesting point. If Shiseido won’t openly show their hand, changes on the ground could give their game away. Is there any recent news of Shiseido either expanding the Kobe facility or shutting it down?

  17. Hi all,

    Need a abit of help.

    Been slowly losing my hair since 20, always had a slight receeding hairline since 16.

    I started taking finasteride when I was around 24, and it seemed to not grow anything but seemed to slow everything down from what I remember but had no side effects.
    However I’ve been taking dutaseride for 2 years now and have recently come into problems, with “the sensation” (or lack of sensation to be honest)when “finishing” haha, if you know what I mean?

    I’m worried about stopping completely as I feel any progress will go when I do.

    Is there a problem switching back to finasteride?

    Also apart from fue and fut, is there anything close to cures? I read about stem cells for £2000 but only last 6 years?

    Thank you for your time

    1. Hi David,

      On online hair loss forums, I have read people having increased shedding when switching back to Finasteride. However, some people also claim that they had increased shedding when moving from Finasteride to Dutasteride, so they had to then revert! Did you see healthy hair growth from Dutasteride?

      There are better hair loss treatments on the way, of which hopefully 2-3 will be out there in the near future. As far as a cure, my guess is that only Dr. Tsuji may be close. But I am relying on anecdotal information from Japan at this point :-(

      1. Annoyingly yes i do have more healthy hair growth near the front/top and some on the crown.

        Do you know if taking it every other day has decreased side effects ?
        Didn’t know if propecia didn’t give any side effects due to it low half life ?

        1. I would recommend going to Pubmed and searching all the different studies you can find on Finasteride and Dutasteride. Unfortunately, some studies suggest high rates of sides, but most are not so bad.

        2. Yes it helps to decrease side effects if you take it every other day, and it will be effective 80%.

  18. Again, I see no advantage to oral finasteride. Where is the evidence that any of these alternate routes reduce sides? Improved efficacy is great but whether you pop a pill (more convenient than going for monthly/quarterly injections) or inject it into your scalp, it’s the same drug circulating in your system, right? Why has no company ever devised a topical version of finasteride that only stays active in the hair follicle? Surely there must be a way to structure finasteride so that it breaks down when entering the bloodstream?

  19. Unless there are no sides with it this way, no thanks. And I have a feel there would still be. So hard pass. See what I did there?

    Also, to the last comment, I agree. Sad decades have passed and we have nothing new.

  20. I got a haircut today and could have cried. Not sure why but since covid it’s 10xs worse – thinner and losing faster. Ugh. I can’t do a HT. Come on, science, give us something!

  21. I took around 6 sessions of the finasteride mesotherapy while I was already on oral finasteride for 10 months. I don’t think it helped much and the doctor did say that the mesotherapy was optional for tackling hairloss.

  22. I hear you james I’m struggling here really bad as well ….anyone have any feedback on polichem? Is it side free as was hoped all these years?

  23. James….did you get covid and started losing more hair or are you saying during covid pandemic and stress you are losing more hair?

    1. To be honest, I’m not sure what happened. I didn’t get COVID. It’s just considerably thinner since last year. Stress maybe? I don’t know. I wish I could put a percentage on the loss. Feels like 20-25%, but who knows for sure. I had a birthday and I’m getting older so maybe that’s it. Otherwise, nothing has changed as far as diet, vitamins etc. I’d like a HT with 3500 grafts but my sides are so thin I just don’t have the donor hair.

      1. I’m in the same boat. Last two years I’ve been seriously depressed. I can’t tell if my sides are thinning but they are def super fine. I’m scared I won’t be a candidate for future treatments like cloning

        1. Hi Alexander: I recall an interview with Tsuji from a few years back when a question was put to him about men where the disease has spread into the sides and back (with me, now 60, the sides and back thinned a lot and then the process seemed to stop: as was the case with my late father). He said that in these cases they still found more than enough follicles at the back of the head that could be cloned. Also, other approaches to hair multiplication, such as Stemson’s, don’t seem to depend on cloning exisiting follicles. All in all, I wouldn’t worry. There will be a cure, and people will look back in amazement that we have this problem. I just wish it would get here sooner rather than later!

      2. Yeah man I hear ya. My sides feel thinner too. Afraid of ht but my back is thick enough for 2k grafts. Are you on the big 3 James? How old are you if you dont mind me asking?

  24. Hi, I’ve found another study on injectable treatment for hairloss. It uses dermal papilla derived extracellular vesicles in hydrogel.
    “Many studies have shown that implanted DPCs can induce the growth of new hair follicles in rodents when mixed with infantile keratinocytes in a specific proportion 11-14. We previously reported that microenvironmental reprogramming by three-dimensional (3D) culture 15 or LBL 16 encapsulation enables DPCs to induce regeneration of human and mice hair follicles.”
    “Extracellular vesicles (EVs) are nanovesicles that can originate from various cell types and carry different kinds of regulatory proteins, mRNAs, and microRNAs (miRNAs). They play a significant role in regulating cell-to-cell communication, ultimately affecting physiological and pathological conditions”
    “OSA increased the retention and stability of DP-EVs and further promoted the therapeutic effects for hair regrowth. The mechanism underlying the therapeutic effect of EV treatment likely involves upregulation of hair growth-promoting signaling molecules such as MMP3, Wnt3a, β-catenin, along with simultaneous downregulation of inhibitory signals such as BMP2”
    Will it ever be available is another question…
    https://www.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/pmc/articles/PMC6956798/

      1. Thanks Ben, it looks good. Not sure how much the patent office pays attention to the details of the technology end result, but definitely a step up.

  25. Just checked in on blog after years of absence… Sad times, Mjones, how are ya bud? Where’s Paul telling us what a great blog this is?

    Anyway, no cure, 2020 lol, remembering me s on a toilet in 2017 with these companies being talked about.

    HT are here to stay sorry guys & gals.

    1. Lol I forgot Paul. Btw your use of the ‘s’ word sent the comment to spam. A folder I rarely check thoroughly.

  26. Is there any suggestion in the data about the effectiveness of injectable fin or dut for folk for whom long term oral delivery has kinda ‘run its course’ I wonder? Would give old dogs like myself a bit of heart!

  27. Can one still get hair cloning if they have retrograde alopecia? My seemed to have thinned as well, but like my brothers and dad, they still have hair on sides. So technically I can still get them cloned ? Just need more of them to get the density?

    Can somebody please give their opinion. I’m worried I can’t get any future treatments :(

    1. You will be in great hands. Stemson’s revolutionary technology used IPSC which are derived from blood and not pre – existing hair follicles.

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