Individuals suffering the pain of going bald may soon be thanking patients of osteoporosis, a degenerative bone disease. Scientists have discovered that a drug used to treat osteoporosis may actually stimulate hair growth. It does this by inhibiting a protein that slows the growth of hair follicles. The drug, called WAY-316606, was being studied by a team from the University of Manchester’s Centre for Dermatology Research, as an alternative to another drug that achieved the same result. That drug, called Cyclosporine A, has been used since the 1980s to minimise the chance of rejection after organ transplants and to treat autoimmune diseases. The problem with Cyclosporine A is its many side-effects, which made it unsuitable as treatment for baldness. The recent study was published in journal PLOS Biology. Researchers caution that WAY-316606 needs to be studied further—so don’t let these findings go to your head just yet.

Photo: iStock
Featured in Harmony — Celebrate Age Magazine
July 2018