October 30, 2023
Now confirmed in major media articles. Oral Minoxidil in short supply.
June 30, 2023
In the past few weeks, I have received a few emails from people reporting major shortages of generic oral Minoxidil (and brand name Loniten). This is not surprising, since low-dose oral Minoxidil (LDOM) has become all the rage in treating hair loss ever since the famous NY Times article was published in August 2022.
Quote from a May 2023 JAMA study:
“The weekly rate of first-time low-dose oral minoxidil prescriptions per 10,000 outpatients was “significantly higher 8 weeks after vs. 8 weeks before article publication,” at 0.9 prescriptions per 10,000, compared with 0.5 per 10,000.”
Moreover, a barrage of positive news stories in relation to LDOM and hair growth keep coming out regularly. You can check out all the latest updates in my main post on oral Minoxidil for hair loss.
Generic Oral Minoxidil Shortages
Well known hair loss and hair transplant advisor Spexhair first notified me about oral Minoxidil shortages in the UK around a month ago. Thereafter, a reader e-mailed me and said that his pharmacy in the US also ran out.
Lo and behold, when I went to get my third set of 90 oral Minoxidil pills a month ago, the pharmacist told me that they changed the generic supplier. From Sun Pharma (which worked great for me for 6 months) to Par Pharmaceutical. I seem to be shedding a bit more ever since I started with this new refill :-(
Readers who are taking oral Minoxidil, please post your manufacturer/brand name in the comments if possible. And your hair growth results and side effects too.
This whole scenario reminds of my travails with generic dutasteride brands that kept changing at my pharmacy. As a result, in 2019 I wrote a lengthy post about my thoughts on generic hair loss drugs.
Moreover, one of the manufacturers of a generic dutasteride I took even sent me an interesting and re-assuring reply. Apparently, that Indian company’s dutasteride was made in the US.
Loniten No Longer Being Produced?
A couple of weeks ago, someone from Australia e-mailed me that there was a shortage of oral Minoxidil in Australia. A bit surprising, since this is the country that is most responsible for the surge in the popularity of this drug. Courtesy of research at Dr. Rodney Sinclair’s clinic in Melbourne. I am assuming that there is no problem in the supply of their affiliated “The Hairy Pill“.
In any event, this person was more interested in Loniten, which is the brand name of the original oral Minoxidil. He used to take that brand and really wanted to avoid generics. Loniten tablets are made by Pfizer (US) and still listed on their website. Including in their patient information section.
However, when I went to GoodRx and did a search for brand name oral Minoxidil (aka Loniten), I got the following warning:
They also state the following “Loniten (brand no longer available)” on their main Minoxidil page.
I also remember someone else mentioning this months ago, either on a hair loss forum or on our hair loss chat. In any case, if you are someone who only trusts the original brand name, you are out of luck when it comes to oral Minoxidil.
Perhaps a Temporary Shortage
It is also possible that this cessation in supply is temporary. On Canada’s drug shortages website, it says that there is a disruption in the manufacture of Loniten as of the last update in November 2022. However, it also gives an “anticipated start date” of August 18, 2023. This perhaps indicates a potential resumption in production by Pfizer.
Costco shows Loniten has been discontinued. Generic 10mg and 2.5 mg seems to be available, I picked mine up a couple weeks ago no problems.
Yeah, but I hope it is the same generic brand that they had previously. Do you know who makes it from the bottle label?
I am bummed they changed my generic brand, even if there is no shortage of the new brand. A few weeks ago, someone on Reddit also posted that their pharmacy brand LDOM offerring changed to the same as mine (Par Pharmaceutical).
Par Pharma last time, Par Pharma this time. The manufacturer really doesn’t concern me all that much, there are standards. I understand that you might feel differently. People can go through sheds for a multitude of reasons then put everything under a microscope. I just went through one of the worst sheds in my life, could it be the brand of generic oral minox, maybe but I don’t believe so. My buddy Summy Kim sensitized me to the fact that Covid causes a shed, which the timing I got it corresponded with my shed. In addition one of the more stressful periods of my life, job change, mom relocating to skilled nursing in another state and all that was associated with that. The shed stopped about two weeks ago (also corresponds with what I read about CV19 sheds), stress has abated. Think my hair is just beginning to recover, so my belief is that Par Pharma is just fine.
Thanks Yoda. And hope your stress remains abated!
I was able to check as far back as Dec 2022, it’s been Par Pharma at least since then. And thanks Admin, stress is back to a normal level, life is good.
Hey mate. Yeah, after Covid, my hair took off quicker than Bernie Madoff with some poor sod’s life savings. It appears to be looking slightly better now, but like our dear bail-loving Bernie back in the day – it’s still considered a flight risk. (God, what am I on about?!) Anyway, I didn’t notice more shedding than usual, more like a sudden drastic change in thickness. It sucked! However, speaking to some work colleagues who also had Covid, a couple said they shed like crazy for several months! I don’t think it happens to everyone, but if I get Covid again, I certainly don’t need another kick in the giblets to add to things – MPB is bad enough on its own. BTW: pleased to hear things are improving for you.
I’ve been on it on and off since early March. Very very low dose. I am stopping it because it gives me water retention around hips/but/stomach/ in spite of a dieretic, and it gives me gastric issue that are so bad it helps me from eating normally…
So people said “push through it” but I feel it changed my body… I haven’t put on weight but lost some weirdly enough…
I really wanted it to work.. I am so bummed. Now I am trying Cosmerna…
It can do that MH, I’m probably on a higher dose than you, but also on a diuretic. Worth it to me for the results I get, everyone has to decide what’s best for themselves.
If you’re losing weight when you feel you shouldn’t be, you might want to see a doctor. Might not have anything to do with the minoxidil.
Hey Yoda. What are your thoughts on the hairy Nevus treatment? And for some reason Merck doesn’t list proscar or Propecia as a product on there website anymore. Did you know that?
Woofy my boy, I hope you’re doing well! I don’t have much of an opinion on future treatments. We wait with hope for one of these new developments to actually go forward. In the meantime I research and try out the tools (different topical versions) we have in our toolkit along with oral dut and minoxidil. Didn’t know that abiut Merck, probably no lo longer a profitable business is my guess.
Just take generic 5% minox drops orally. It’s very close to 1mg per drop. It has some PG but it’s a small amount and some other medication and candy has it. It’s not ideal, but it’s a fairly common additive in some foods. The estimated exposure to propylene glycol through foods in the US is 15 mg per pound. Propylene glycol is commonly used as an additive to aid in the processing of foods and improve their texture, flavor, appearance and shelf life. And the tiny bit of alcohol is nothing.
I take 4 drops per day which is about 4mg. I take 1 drop in the morning, 1 drop in the afternoon, and 2 drops before bed.
There is no real shortage if buying from India. I’ve been buying it from there for years, it’s great quality and very cheap but delivery time is a couple of weeks.
Can you please send a link or drop a name. I tried with one but I felt like it was a scam.
Hi Admin – couldn’t find an appropriate blog post, so I chose your latest.
Pelage Pharma received a staggering 16,7 million USD in a single financing round last week. This eclipses Amplifica‘s sum from last year and is a huge indicator for a human trial starting very soon.
Not much news out and the financers are unknown as as of yet. My source is Crunchbase, which is known to be very reliable for these kind of infos.
Thanks Ben. I mentioned Pelage here, but forgot about them since:
https://www.hairlosscure2020.com/category/pelage-pharmaceuticals/
Oh okay I searched for “Pelage” but couldn’t find an appropriate blog. My fault.
You don’t seem to be overly excited, but it is afaik the second biggest investment in a sole hair loss drug ever, after Exicure. So that’ definitely good news.
I always found their approach very alluring – but I lost interest due to the disappointing timelines: foundation in 2019 after many years of research – product candidate(s) ready, molecules successfully synthesized and stable, pre-clinical testing finished, done all the homework; great. But then wtf happened in the past 4 years?
Of course our knowledge is always limited, you never know what’s going on behind the scenes. I think Pelage worked mainly with CROs and basically never shared any updates or news which makes it so difficult to follow.
The time frame issue is also my main reason for losing interest. I am sure I would get excited if they begin human trials.
That post was from 2019 btw and the Pelage add-on was a later update. So perhaps missed by many.
My understanding (from what pharmacists tell me) is that Oral Minox will be back in stock September here in Australia… I’d LOVE to know how to procure some Oral Minox from ANYWHERE in the meantime. cheers all!
Thailand, just received 200 x5mg from my usual supplier. No shortage. It’s not Loniten, it’s Minox 5mg and I’ve been using this for over 4 years with amazing success.
Admin, please advise if any minimum age to start oral minoxidil.
I am 20 years old.
Honestly I have a big concern of oral minoxidil. I have been a topical 5% minoxidil foam or solution user and it always stops my hair loss, I’m a good responder to topical minoxidil. However, I’m tired of applying twice daily and it makes my hair dry like hell. So I tried oral minoxidil (only Par manufacturer). I tried 0.625, 1.25, 2.5 and my max was 5 mg. Total time of using oral minoxidil was 1 year. I never had good results with oral minoxidil, unlike the topical. Whenever I’m on oral minoxidil, I get results only on my beard (much thickness) but I lose hair density on scalp like crazy. Not sure it’s the generic name, I doubt. I feel the oral minoxidil is just over rated.