New Baldness Pill Boosts Hair Coverage by Up to 86% in Six Months

It's not a novel molecule, and that's actually good news.

A familiar hair-loss drug may be getting a major upgrade. A slow-release formulation of minoxidil, one of the oldest hair-loss drugs still in use, has cleared a major late-stage trial in men with male pattern hair loss.

The drug, called VDPHL01, is not a new molecule. That is part of what makes it interesting, because it’s a drug we already know well. But it takes the familiar treatment and reformulates it as an extended-release tablet designed specifically for hair loss, rather than blood pressure.

In a 519-person clinical trial, men taking VDPHL01 grew roughly four times as many new non-vellus hairs as men taking placebo after six months. Non-vellus hairs are the thicker, more visible hairs usually tracked in hair-loss trials. The company also reported that as many as 86% of men on the drug noticed some improvement in hair coverage.

Two Jobs for the Same Drug

Minoxidil has had two very different medical lives. It was first used as a powerful oral blood-pressure medication, generally reserved for difficult cases of hypertension. Then doctors noticed an unusual side effect: some patients taking the drug grew more hair. That observation eventually helped turn minoxidil into one of the most widely used treatments for pattern hair loss.

Today, most people know it as a foam or liquid rubbed onto the scalp. Topical minoxidil can help, but it has drawbacks. It has to be applied consistently (often every day) and the benefits usually fade if people stop using it.

Oral minoxidil has also become more popular among dermatologists in recent years, often at low doses. But that approach comes with concerns. Immediate-release oral minoxidil can create sharp peaks in blood levels, which may increase the risk of side effects such as swelling, dizziness, rapid heartbeat, and other cardiovascular problems.

VDPHL01 tries to solve that problem by slowing the drug down.

Veradermics, the company developing the pill, says its gel-matrix tablet releases minoxidil more steadily over time. The goal is to keep enough of the drug in circulation to stimulate hair growth while avoiding the high concentration spikes linked to unwanted cardiac effects.

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What the Trial Found

In Study 302, 519 men aged 18 to 65 with mild-to-moderate male pattern hair loss were randomly assigned to one of three groups: VDPHL01 8.5 milligrams once daily, VDPHL01 8.5 milligrams twice daily, or placebo. The trial was randomized, double-blind, and placebo-controlled.

After six months, the difference was clear.

Men taking placebo gained an average of 7.3 non-vellus hairs per square centimeter. Men taking VDPHL01 once daily gained 30.3 hairs per square centimeter. Those taking it twice daily gained 33.0 hairs per square centimeter.

Patient reports fit with the data. About 79% of men in the once-daily group and 86% of men in the twice-daily group reported at least some improvement in hair coverage, compared with about 36% of men taking placebo. The stricter measure was also favorable. Nearly 63% of men taking the twice-daily dose rated their hair coverage as “improved” or “much improved,” compared with 13.4% in the placebo group.

The company said the drug separated from placebo by month two, the earliest point measured in the trial. It also reported adverse-event rates similar to placebo, with no treatment-related serious adverse events and no cardiac adverse events of special interest during the six-month readout.

“Dermatology has been treating hair loss with a drug borrowed from cardiology, in a formulation never intended for our patients, at doses we arrived at informally,” said Michael Gold, MD, trial investigator and board-certified dermatologist. “VDPHL01 is the first oral minoxidil formulation developed specifically for pattern hair loss, and now the first to generate positive phase 3 results of efficacy and safety.”

Where Does the Drug Go from Here?

Pattern hair loss, also called androgenetic alopecia, is driven by genetics and hormones. In people who are susceptible, hair follicles gradually shrink. The hairs they produce become shorter, finer, and less visible until parts of the scalp begin to look thin or bare.

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The condition is not physically dangerous, but that doesn’t mean it’s trivial. Hair loss can affect confidence, social life, and mental well-being. For many people, the current options are inconvenient, slow, inconsistent, or come with trade-offs.

That is why an effective pill would be a big deal. It could be easier to use than topical minoxidil and, if the extended-release design works as intended, potentially more predictable than improvised low-dose oral minoxidil.

But that “if” is doing a lot of work.

The results so far also come from a company announcement, not a full peer-reviewed paper. Independent researchers will want to see the complete data, including longer-term safety, dropout rates, cardiovascular monitoring, and how the drug compares with cheaper, existing treatments.

A second male trial, Study 304, is already fully enrolled. Veradermics says six-month topline results are expected in the second half of 2026. If that study confirms the results, and if regulators agree the benefits outweigh the risks, VDPHL01 could become the first FDA-approved oral non-hormonal treatment for pattern hair loss.