For several decades, hair loss treatment in men largely focused on reducing dihydrotestosterone (DHT) levels via the use of finasteride (Propecia) or dutasteride (Avodart). This started to change in recent years with the rise of new topical treatments targeting scalp androgen receptors. I posted a list of seven in 2024. with most of them currently in clinical trials. It seems like there is now a third popular category of new hair loss products taking off in 2026: mitochondrial pyruvate carrier (MPC) inhibitors.
Mitochondrial Pyruvate Carrier Inhibitors to Treat Hair Loss
A mitochondrial pyruvate carrier inhibitor is a small molecule that blocks the transport of pyruvate into the mitochondria. This alters cellular energy metabolism and production.
The subject of MPC inhibition to treat hair loss first came to my attention in 2017, when I wrote a post covering UCLA researcher Dr. William Lowry and his discovery of MPC inhibitor UK5099 to treat hair loss. His team found that the inhibition of mitochondrial pyruvate carrier may reverse hair loss via an increase in lactate. He later co-founded a now renowned company named Pelage Pharmaceuticals (US) in order to develop this hair loss treatment. See further below for more on Pelage.
Just this month, Chinese researchers published a new paper in which they discuss the discovery of a novel mitochondrial pyruvate carrier inhibitor with anti-hair loss efficacy. It is called SIPI11594:
“The C4-fluoro derivative 5k (SIPI11594) emerged as an optimal lead, showing favorable in vitro lactate release activity.”
In addition, a 2025 study from the University of Cambridge (UK) analyzed the inhibition of the human mitochondrial pyruvate carrier and its implications in the the development of new drugs to treat:
“Diabetes, fatty liver disease, Parkinson’s disease, specific cancers, and even hair loss“.
Also significant is a 2025 study from the US in relation to advances in the development of MPC inhibitors for therapeutic applications. They list the names of a bunch of JXL and other MPC inhibitors in a table. Dr. Lowry’s team also has a paper from 2021 in which they break out the entire range of JXL001 through JXL096.
Companies working on MPC Inhibitors for Hair Growth
As of September 2026, three companies are working on developing MPC inhibitors for hair growth. I will update the below section as more companies inevitably jump on to the MPC inhibitor bandwagon due to the success of Pelage Pharmaceuticals (in garnering unprecedented publicity and financing). I am sure companies will use AI to develop new types of MPC inhibitors in the coming years.
Pelage Pharmaceuticals PP405
The far and away leader of the MPC inhibitor trend is the pioneer Pelage Pharmaceuticals (US) via its PP405 topical MPC inhibitor drug candidate. It has raised sizable funds from Google Ventures and others in order to begin Phase 3 clinical trials for PP405 by the end of this year. In July 2026, it was speculated that PP405 is the same as JXL069 (which is a superior version of JXL001, aka UK5099). The President and co-founder of Pelage Dr. Lowry replied to to me in an e-mail earlier today and encouraged this blog’s readers to participate in the company’s Phase 3 clinical trials.
Kintor Pharmaceutical KT-215
In August 2026, Kintor Pharmaceutical (China) updated its pipeline page and gave us a surprise. It has added a third drug to fight androgenetic alopecia (AGA) to its pipeline. This one is a topical MPC inhibitor called KT-215. It is currently only in the pre-clinical stage of development. However, Kintor has a knack for conducting numerous clinical trials in China and the US with ease due to ready availability of funds. Trials in China also seem to go a little faster than in the US.
Even if KT-215 is successful in all phase of clinical trials, it would likely not come to market for over five years. Moreover, it would have to be deemed at least as effective as Pelage Pharmaceuticals’ PP405 in the event that the latter gets released in the US. Nevertheless, it is still a great sign to see scientists around the world agreeing that MPC inhibition could lead to hair regrowth.
Triple Hair TH65
I covered Triple Hair (Canada) in a 2024 post that was later updated in 2026. The company began Phase 3 clinical trials for its Therapy-07 (THO7) topical in April 2026 in Vancouver, Canada, It contains minoxidil, finasteride and latanoprost (a prostaglandin F2α analog). This product is already available for sale via prescription.
However, in August 2026, Triple Hair surprised everyone when it released an updated pipeline on its Instagram. In there, it says that the company was working on an MPC inhibitor called TH65 to treat AGA. It is hard for me to believe that this small Canadian company has the funds to ever go through 3 phases of trials for TH65. Perhaps they are aiming to release a hair loss cosmeceutical that might be a weak MPC inhibitor? I am not knowledgeable enough to know if this is legal and possible, so this is just speculation on my part.
Still waiting for a trial result to say, “100% of patients showed improvement.” This is what we need to see. “100%”. Let’s go :-)
Didn’t know where else to comment this so I’ll do it here- there’s another company called organelle therapeutics from korea developing a treatment for hairloss. Preclinical stage though so very very far away from the market. But based on their website and their publication earlier this year in march (in the journal acs nano), it appears to be a treatment for peroxisomal dysfunction.
https://organelletx.com/pipelines-overview
Hello admin. I was using an AI tool, and during some research on amino acids, I came across information indicating that, in certain studies, taurine showed a positive effect on androgenetic alopecia.
The AI provided the following links to studies; the second one is Chinese, and I have no idea whether it is authentic and reliable.
https://pubmed.ncbi.nlm.nih.gov/42316299/
https://www.pibb.ac.cn/pibbcn/article/abstract/20250264
It would be interesting to add this information to your site’s encyclopedia.
Message created via translator.
How many years will they waste testing on mice before moving onto humans?
Great timing admin, check this out by Shanghai Institute of Pharmaceutical Industry Co.:
https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/abs/pii/S0968089626001719
Thanks iNMH!
Very interesting. Are they insinuating that it works better than PP405? Also delivery which seems to be crucial with MPC on skin.
The Chinese picking up Western research and improving it seems to be their method. See EV, photovoltaics, batteries, production lines, AI,…of course this disrupts the Western economies/companies to a certain degree.
I wouldn‘t be surprised if that thing is available on the black market soon.
Such a relief to see we are finally moving towards another treatment pathway! For those of us who can’t use 5ARIs, thank god investors are finally looking into this space and enabling new development.
Amen to that
Interesting summary of upcoming hair loss treatments:
https://www.asiae.co.kr/en/article/stock-etc/2026090807310787419
The link won’t open for me, sadly. Anyone else having this problem?
I tried two computers and my phone, and it opened in all three.
No didn’t open for me either :/
How about this?
https://archive.ph/3O697
Perfect, thanks.
Interesting they believe there is optimization on the table for best in class molecule. I imagine though Kintor will just steal pelage IP to push to the Chinese market, they seem to be good at that looking at pyri for example. I wouldn’t expect anything novel from them.
Admin, Can you say if Dr. Lowry confirmed that JXL069 is the same molecule as PP405? Not that it makes any difference (because of the significance of the carrier) but just curious.
No, I asked him to read the last update in my Pelage post (where I included the Reddit link about this issue), but he did not have any comment.
In any event, Dr. Lowry encouraging readers to participate in the upcoming trials means they are a go.
I took note of this Admin “The President and co-founder of Pelage Dr. Lowry replied to to me in an e-mail earlier today and encouraged this blog’s readers to participate in the company’s Phase 3 clinical trials” . Not that it’s a slam dunk by any means but to those esteemed arm chair “researchers” that have already concluded JXL069/PP405 is a fail, or even a scam why would Lowry encourage readers of this blog to enroll in their phase III trial? Bad press is better than no press? I highly doubt it. I hope this succeeds not only so we have a potential revolutionary new treatment but to also prove the no nothing know it all’s wrong!
I really hope and love for PP405 to be a groundbreaking treatment for hair loss that we all need, but Dr. Lowry encouraging readers of this blog to participate in phase 3 trials doesn’t mean anything.
There’s still a chance PP405 could be only slightly better than minoxidil, but that’s enough incentive to get to phase 3 and FDA approval.
I think it’s been a year since phase 2 was completed and we still haven’t heard anything.
I didn’t indicate Lowry encouraging readers of this blog to enter stage 3 trials meant anything other than it’s not already known by Pelage to be an epic fail (as some arm chair researchers have proclaimed), or even more ludicrous, that this is a money grab. They still feel they might have something, are pushing ahead with stage 3 and encouraging active members of the hair loss community to join the trail. You feel differently? You feel entitled to more updates? What other company heading to stage three has provided more information. Trust me, I’m no PP fanboy, what I am is someone who waits for the actual results, good or bad.
It is always possible that a smaller company such as Triple Hair doesn’t plan to commercialise TH65. Instead it intends to monetise by selling its IP to a bigger company such as Pelage or Kintor.