Shares of South Korean drugmaker Hyundai Pharm surged nearly 30% on Thursday after its partner released positive late-stage trial results for a topical hair-loss treatment, drawing attention to a potential shift in a global market long dominated by oral medications.
The rally followed an announcement from Italy’s Cosmo Pharmaceuticals, which reported that its solution containing clascoterone—a compound licensed to Hyundai Pharm for the Korean market—showed statistically significant hair regrowth in two Phase 3 studies.
In one trial, patients applying a 5% clascoterone solution saw hair count increase by 539% at the application site compared with those on placebo. A second study recorded a 168% improvement over placebo. The trials involved nearly 1,500 patients across the U.S., Europe and other regions.
The data sparked investor enthusiasm in Seoul, where Hyundai Pharm’s stock closed at $3.44, up 29.91% for the day. The company holds domestic rights to clascoterone, though Cosmo retains global development control.
For U.S. audiences, the results touch a familiar concern: the search for effective hair-loss treatments without the systemic side effects associated with current oral drugs such as finasteride, which has been linked to sexual dysfunction and mood changes in some users.
Clascoterone is already known in American dermatology as the active ingredient in Winlevi, an FDA-approved acne treatment. That prior approval has raised speculation that a hair-loss formulation could eventually seek a regulatory pathway in the U.S., though no such plans have been disclosed.
“A topical treatment that minimizes systemic exposure would be a welcome option for many patients,” said Kim Seung-ji, a healthcare analyst at Daishin Securities. “The Phase 3 results certainly make clascoterone a candidate to watch.”
For now, Hyundai Pharm’s stock move reflects local optimism, but the broader implication lies in whether a topical alternative can gain traction in the multibillion-dollar U.S. hair-loss market—a sector still largely anchored to daily pills and invasive procedures.
