Veradermics VDPHL Tablet for Hair Loss

Veradermics VDPHL Tablet for Hair Loss
Veradermics VDPHL tablet for hair loss. Pipeline screenshot from company website.

Update: January 2, 2025

Veradermics Phase 2/3 Clinical Trial Enrollment Link

Veradermics Phase 2/3 US clinical trial enrollment link is live. Their 40 plus locations are pretty widely spread across the country. Please note that we are not certain of the active ingredient(s) in this tablet. From the company’s patent, I previously guessed that it is an extended release oral Minoxidil, plus hopefully some other surprises (see bottom of this post). But it could end up being something totally different too.

The study involves 13 visits to a clinic over the course of 12 months. Participants will either get the new treatment or be part of the placebo group (that will still also get a tablet).

Update: December 11, 2024

Veradermics Raises $75 Million for Phase 2/3 Trials

Veradermics just raised $75 million in Series B financing (h/t “meko”). They have also initiated a Phase 2/3 trial for their lead candidate VDPHL01 for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia (AGA). The trial will enroll 480 patients across 44 sites in the US.

Note that Veradermics also has an ongoing 20-patient Phase 2 trial for VDPHL. Per this latest press release, the company plans to report topline data from that Phase 2 study in the first half of 2025.

VDPHL Clinical Trial Updated Links

VDPHL01 Phase 2 Trial

  • 20 patients.
  • Start date = 2024-07-08.
  • Completion date =2025-08-01.

VDPHL01 Phase 2/3 Trial

  • 480 patients.
  • Start date = 2024-11-06.
  • Completion date =2026-07.

August 9, 2024

Veradermics VDPHL Tablet: Phase 2 Trials Begin

Veradermics is a US-based startup that is working on a new tablet to treat androgenetic alopecia (AGA). They just started Phase 2 clinical trials for VDPHL01 in male subjects with AGA. Only 20 patients are enrolled, and the completion date is listed as August 1, 2025. The trial will take place at Therapeutic Research’s center in San Diego, California. Interestingly, Therapeutic Research is also conducting a topical hair loss product study at this very moment.

However, on Veradermics’ website, the pipeline page suggests that Phase 2 trials for VDPHL are finished (screenshot above). Thanks to reader “John Doe” for e-mailing me about this difference in time frame (and acronym — VDPHL01 versus VDPHL). In any case, this product is still a few years away from reaching the market assuming successful trial results. Note that VDPHL likely stands for Veradermics Pattern Hair Loss.

The tablet does not impact hormone levels as do dihydrotestosterone (DHT) inhibitors finasteride and dutasteride. Thus avoiding potential side effects. Veradermics’ CEO is a young dermatologist named Reid Waldman.

Modified Release/Extended Release Oral Minoxidil

The mechanism of action (MOA) and key ingredient(s) in this tablet are both confidential. However, when I searched through the company’s patent, it seems like the drug candidate will be a “modified release” oral minoxidil tablet. In the patent, they use the term “extended release (ER)”.

Note that they do not use the term “sublingual minoxidil” anywhere in the patent. Also, I wonder how they will be able to differentiate from the existing oral minoxidil based “Hairy Pill” from Australian dermatologist Dr. Rodney Sinclair’s company?

Other Potential Ingredients in VDPHL

In the patent, they also have a massive list of 191 claims. Within that section, all of the following drugs are listed 11 times each:

  • Setipiprant (11 times).
  • Valproic acid (11 times).
  • Cetirizine (11 times).
  • Medrogestone (11 times).

For long time readers of this blog, setipiprant (and Kythera) will ring a bell. It caused so much excitement a decade ago. I cannot believe that the very optimistic 9-yr old audio interview with Kythera’s CEO is still online. Setipiprant is an oral antagonist to the prostaglandin D2 (PGD2) receptor.

I covered valproic acid and hair growth in detail in the past. Follica also has a patent that covers valproic acid and hair regrowth. Valproic acid activates the Wnt/β-catenin signaling pathway.

Cetirizine is a PGD2 inhibitor that has been shown to benefit hair growth even when used topically.

I have never covered medrogestone on this site before. Per Wikipedia, it is a progestin that is an agonist of the progesterone receptor and a weak anti-androgen. Progesterone is a female sex hormone that has beneficial properties towards hair growth.

28 thoughts on “Veradermics VDPHL Tablet for Hair Loss”

  1. As far as I remember some research for oral valproic acid causes hair loss and topically increases hair growth.

  2. So it’s oral Minoxidil? That’s unfortunate, I do not tolerate oral Minoxidil at all, even on 1mg doses.

  3. Interesting. Curious how it’ll be minox (to some extent) but without the sides. Not sure how they’ll pull that off and if people with heart issues will be able to take it (many with heart issues can’t take oral minox). Also, why only 20 people in the trial? For something like this, that doesn’t make sense to me but I’m no expert on the rules and guidelines of clinical trials.

  4. So to sum things up, in the hair loss world, we still are battling this thing with the same old rebranded, repackaged dinosaur era minoxidil or finasteride. This sucks.

  5. Extended release minoxidil could be reasonably simulated by dividing the daily dose and taking every 3 hours as that is the half life. A lot of work but it would be interesting to see if it’s effective.

    1. Thanks, I updated the post with trial links on top. Seems odd to start Phase 2/3 trials before Phase 2 trials have ended, but I think I have seen this in the past too.

      Hopefully the tablet has all the 5 ingredients that I discussed in this post.

      1. Mixed phases have always gotten me confused:
        will this phase 2/3 be enough, or they will have to do another standalone phase 3 after that?

  6. Is this the same drug as someone earlier mentioned? the high dosage oral Minoxidil without side effects? i remember someone taking 2x 8,75mg without any sides. don’t remember if it was here or on Reddit. that would be amazing. 15/20 mg oral Minoxidil without side effects would be basically a (very hairy) cure.

    1. I made a post on Reddit a couple of months back, but I deleted it. I’m currently taking this medication as part of the trials. 8.5mg 2x/day. It’s been 5 months and I’m not a hyper responder by any means, but I’m personally pleased with the results.

        1. Sides: I had headaches the first couple of weeks, but that went away.
          Fin comparison: I had a prescription for oral fin a few years ago, but I didn’t take it consistently and stopped after a couple of months of seeing no results. So, I can’t make a fair comparison.

    1. So considering early clinical and preclinical costs, they’ve invested $100 million to get approval for oral minoxidil(!). Crazy times, still, I suppose if it works….

        1. Admin – what do you make of the money involved here? It seemed like it was a big deal when Pelage raised $16.75 million followed by $14 million, but Vermadermics has raised $75 million (or $100 million?). Should this be topping our lists of treatments to follow?

          1. If it is just oral Minoxidil with a better delivery process, then I am not overly excited.

            Exicure raised an immediate $25 million from Allergan in 2019, along with potential milestone payments of up to $265 million. It did not result in anything so far.

              1. Thanks Ben.

                On a related note the case of Kythera is really crazy. In February 2015, the company purchased global rights to Setipiprant (see my CEO audio interview link at the bottom of this very Verademics post).

                Then Kythera itself got purchased by Allergan in June 2015.

                Then AbbVie purchased Allergan in 2020.

  7. Can we assume this Phase II / III trial will be the final trial? Seems odd if they could combine Phase II / III stages and make it the final trial unless there is no novel compound in it that hasn’t already been FDA approved.

  8. From Veradermics’ LinkedIn:
    Veradermics is at an exciting inflection point: after recently closing our Series B funding we are growing our Clinical Operations team to support our current Ph.2 and Ph.3 clinical trials. To help drive this next chapter, we’re searching for *2 Senior Clinical Trial Project Managers* to oversee trial execution and CRO partnerships.

  9. I believe that I’m part of this clinical trial, although I’m not sure if I’m phase 2 or phase 2/3. I am taking 8.5mg of VDPHL01 twice daily. I’ve been told that it’s a specially formulated version of minoxidil that is timed and/or extended release. I’m about to hit month 6, and my results have been slow but very promising.

    1. I am moderately optimistic for this one.

      I don’t know why they make such a secret of the ingredients – it is very likely Minox. Kinda ridiculous.

      If they tweak the formula to more efficacy and less side-effects it’s definitely a win.

      If it has the same results as regular oral Minox then I don’t know how they market this. That’s been available for many years for affordable prices.

      It’s a bit mysterious.

      1. I wonder if it will have more staying power than oral min…for me anyways. I had great gains with oral min about 5 years ago however they only held for about 3 years then lost ground. Not back to baseline, however not as thick and lustrous as it was at the pinnacle of my success. Pretty similar to my experience with topical min way back when and whenever I’d increase the concentration, an initial boost then backtrack. Hopefully they solve that part of the equation.

        1. That would be a HUGE bummer. To psychologically think that you beat hair loss…and then have it come back again. Lame.

          1. I’m in San Diego too Bro, Clairemont area. Keep us posted on your results. Oh, and just because that’s my outcome doesn’t mean other’s will suffer the same fate. Although our friend from down under Mr. SummyKim lost ground as well, I think under similar circumstances but could be wrong.

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