Randomized clinical trial comparing 5% and 1% topical minoxidil for the treatment of androgenetic alopecia in Japanese men

Abstract

Minoxidil is efficacious in inducing hair growth in patients with androgenetic alopecia by inducing hair follicles to undergo transition from the early to late anagen phase. Although the efficacy of 1% topical minoxidil has been confirmed in Japan, no controlled study of 5% topical minoxidil has been conducted using male Japanese subjects. The objective of this trial was to verify the superiority in clinical efficacy of 5% topical minoxidil to 1% topical minoxidil in a double-blind controlled study with male, Japanese androgenetic alopecia patients as the subjects. The trial included 300 Japanese male patients aged 20 years or older with androgenetic alopecia who were administered either 5% topical minoxidil (n = 150) or 1% topical minoxidil (n = 150) for 24 weeks. The mean change from the baseline in non-vellus hair/cm(2), the primary efficacy variable, was 26.4 (n = 142) in the 5% topical minoxidil group and 21.2 (n = 144) in the 1% topical minoxidil group at 16 weeks, the main time point for the evaluation. The difference between the groups was significant (P = 0.020). The incidence of adverse events was 8.7% (13/150) in the 5% group and 5.3% (8/150) in the 1% group, with no significant difference between the groups (chi(2)-test: P = 0.258). Our findings confirmed the superiority of 5% topical minoxidil to 1% topical minoxidil in treating Japanese men with androgenetic alopecia.