Men battling baldness may soon have a new pill to turn to

Read the original at New York Post ↗
Cite

Sacks, R. (2026, October 25). Men battling baldness may soon have a new pill to turn to. New York Post. https://nypost.com/2026/10/25/health/men-battling-baldness-may-soon-have-a-new-pill-to-turn-to/

Dated from the outlet's own feed. Check the original for its byline.

New York Post · collected 2026-10-25 · by Rachel Sacks

Quick Summary

An experimental new pill designed to treat male pattern baldness is one step closer to market after a successful phase 3 trial involving 536 men with mild to moderate hair loss. The treatment, called VDPHL01 and developed by Veradermics in Connecticut, showed promising results: those taking the once-daily dose gained an average of 28.6 hairs per square centimeter compared to just 6.6 for placebo users over six months. This extended-release version aims to reduce side effects typically associated with immediate-release minoxidil, though it may cause swelling and unwanted hair growth in some cases.
Written locally by qwen2.5:14b on 2026-10-25, using this article's own text rather than the other coverage of the same event (that is the story summary below).

AI analysis runs on qwen2.5:14b, locally

Story summary

An experimental pill for treating pattern baldness is one step closer to becoming available, marking the first new treatment of its kind in nearly three decades. Connecticut-based biopharmaceutical company Veradermics developed an oral, extended-release version of minoxidil — the active ingredient in Rogaine — which successfully regrew hair in men with mild to moderate hair loss over a six-month trial period. The study involved 536 men who were given either a once-daily 8.5 milligram dose, a twice-daily dose, or a placebo. Those taking the pill showed significant results: users on the once-daily dose gained an average of 28.6 hairs per square centimeter of scalp, and those on the twice-daily dose gained an average of 36.4 hairs, compared to just 6.6 for patients on a placebo.

Written for “Hair Loss Treatment Pill” on 2026-10-25, grounded in this article and the 0 other(s) covering the same event.
Why this leaning score
This article does not take a side on a contested political question, so it has no leaning score. That is an answer rather than a gap: a match report or a rescue can be warmly or critically written without being left or right, and scoring it anyway is how approval of a subject gets recorded as a political position.
No political leaning scored for article 106348 · logged 2026-10-25

Story

📰 Hair Loss Treatment Pill
Health · 1 article(s) covering the same event.

Compared with similar articles

Nothing to compare against. No article is close enough to this one for the pipeline to have linked or judged the pair.
How this article was measured signals, leaning charts, publisher record, byline, topics and claims

Signals How these are calculated →

Claims extracted
18
sentences that state something as happening or true
Uncertain
28%
5 of 18 hedged ("reportedly", "may", "according to")
Leaning
not political
takes no side on a contested political question
Publisher signals
66/100
New York Post's corrections and hedging, across everything collected from it. Not a measure of accuracy.
Outlets on this story
1
Health
Same framing elsewhere
1
articles that frame the event the way this one does
Analyzed 2026-10-25 · how these are computed

How this is being covered How these are calculated →

Article leaning vs. publisher reliability
Source leaning vs. consistency

Publisher

New York Post · 13850 article(s) · 34 correction(s) detected
Running correction rate · 34 correction(s)

Who wrote this

Rachel Sacks
35 article(s) here · 1 carrying a prediction
🔮 A widespread problem, hair loss affects roughly 50 million men and 30 million women, and while there’s no special potion to reverse genetic or age-related decline, some products may slow down loss and promote regrowth.
🔮 Depressive symptoms may look similar, but there are various underlying causes.
🔮 The race is intended to give all kids the confidence boost that comes with crossing a finish line and hearing crowds cheering for them, with Collins noting that for some “it could be their first ever fitness event.”
🔮 And while a little meal before bedtime may curb your hunger in the short term, eating at the wrong time could increase the risk of a severe disease that causes permanent damage.
🔮 Massages may provide short-term relief for pain in the neck, shoulders, lower back and knees, as well as a part of supportive care for cancer patients.
2026-10-18 · assertive framing · You can now get a robot massage designed by Tom Brady
🔮 “The FDA should do whatever it possibly could do to get their hands on the actual drug that was injected by both of these patients,” associate professor at Harvard Medical School Pieter Cohen told CBS News.
🔮 Now, a revolutionary treatment may provide relief for the joint inflammation, pain, stiffness and reduced mobility that often come with arthritis or other knee injuries.
🔮 A silent yet deadly epidemic is sweeping the nation, with the number of Americans living with heart failure expected to nearly double from 6.7 million in 2024 to 11.4 million by 2050.
🔮 In the search for scientific remedies for aging, Novo’s drug semaglutide (sold under the names Ozempic and Wegovy) may be the closest solution.
🔮 Recent research has identified a one-time treatment that may repair damaged retinas and even reverse vision loss.
Also by Rachel Sacks
Nothing else under this byline is closely related to this article, so these are simply their most recent.
All 35 articles by Rachel Sacks →

Topics

Connecticut Medscape Medical News Rogaine VDPHL01 Veradermics

Subjects

Veradermics ORG · 3× Connecticut GPE · 2× FDA ORG · 2× Medscape Medical News ORG · 1× Pooja Shah PERSON · 1× Reid Waldman PERSON · 1× The Post ORG · 1×

Narrative

Both the once-daily and twice-daily doses outperformed the placebo, with users taking the once-daily dose gaining an average of 28.6 hairs per square centimeter of scalp after, and 36.4 for those taking it twice daily, compared with 6.6 for patients on a placebo.
framing: mixed · carried by 1 article(s) · first seen 2026-10-25
🔮 A widespread problem, hair loss affects roughly 50 million men and 30 million women, and while there’s no special potion to reverse genetic or age-related decline, some products may slow down loss and promote regrowth.
2026-10-25 · New York Post
Men battling baldness may soon have a new pill to turn to · mixed framing

Claims (18 extracted, 5 hedged)

A widespread problem, hair loss affects roughly 50 million men and 30 million women, and while there’s no special potion to reverse genetic or age-related decline, some products may slow down loss and promote regrowth. uncertain
products → affect → regrowth
Now, an experimental treatment that’s a new spin on a classic medication is one step closer to being readily available, marking the first new pill for pattern baldness in nearly 30 years. asserted
that → ’ → years
An oral, extended-release version of minoxidil — the active ingredient in Rogaine — successfully regrew hair in men with pattern hair loss over six months in a phase 3 trial. asserted
version → regrew → trial
According to the drug’s developer, Connecticut-based biopharmaceutical company Veradermics, the study looked at 536 men with mild to moderate hair loss. uncertain
study → accord → loss
Patients were either given a once daily 8.5 milligram dose of the experimental pill, known as VDPHL01, a twice-daily dose or a placebo. asserted
Patients → give → VDPHL01
Both the once-daily and twice-daily doses outperformed the placebo, with users taking the once-daily dose gaining an average of 28.6 hairs per square centimeter of scalp after, and 36.4 for those taking it twice daily, compared with 6.6 for patients on a placebo. asserted
users → outperform → placebo
“I’m not surprised by the results, and I think it’s exciting to see positive phase 3 data for an oral treatment for hair loss,” dermatologist Pooja Shah, who wasn’t associated with the study, told Medscape Medical News. asserted
who → think → News
While oral minoxidil has been used for hair loss before, the treatments were often immediate-release, meaning they were absorbed faster into the body and resulted in more side effects for some users. asserted
they → use → users
A minoxidil pill also carries the risk of serious heart risks, including a fast heart rate, fluid around the heart and chest pain. asserted
pill → carry → heart
An extended-release version of minoxidil could lower peak concentration and potentially reduce certain side effects, such as dizziness or changes in blood pressure. uncertain
version → lower → pressure
The drug was generally well tolerated with no treatment-related serious adverse events or cardiac adverse events. asserted
drug → tolerate → events
However, those taking VDPHL01 reported more frequent swelling and unwanted hair growth than those who received a placebo. asserted
who → take → placebo
VDPHL01 contains nearly twice as much minoxidil as the maximum recommended daily dose of 5 milligrams. asserted
VDPHL01 → contain → milligrams
Minoxidil widens blood vessels to increase nutrient, oxygen and blood flow to budding hair follicles, extending their active growth phase while stimulating dormant follicles to become active. asserted
Minoxidil → widen → follicles
These results were similar to the company’s phase 2 study involving more than 500 men, released last April. asserted
results → involve → men
The company hasn’t directly compared its minoxidil pill with conventional oral minoxidil, meaning it’s unclear whether their treatment offers more benefits than a less expensive generic medication. uncertain
treatment → compare → medication
While Veradermics is also recruiting women for its female pattern hair loss Phase 3 trial, they hope the pill will be the first FDA-approved non-hormonal oral treatment for pattern hair loss hitting shelves soon. asserted
pill → recruit → shelves
“Under our current plan, if our studies continue to read out positively on the timelines that we expect, and we submit and gain FDA approval, we believe it could be within the next two to three years,” Dr. Reid Waldman, a Connecticut dermatologist and CEO of Veradermics, previously told The Post. uncertain
Waldman → continue → Post
💬Give feedback
🕘History 🎫Support