Efficacy of a Complex of 5-Aminolevulinic Acid and Glycyl-Histidyl-Lysine Peptide on Hair Growth

Lee WJ, Sim HB, Jang YH, Lee SJ, Kim do W, Yim SH · Annals of Dermatology

Hair count rose 52.6 ± 45.7 on 100 mg/mL, 71.5 ± 44.9 on 50 mg/mL and 9.6 ± 45.1 on placebo at six months, and the p<0.05 attached to the two treated figures is a repeated-measures test against each arm's own baseline rather than a comparison with placebo. The only between-group result to reach significance is the ratio of change in hair count, 2.38 on 50 mg/mL against 1.21 on placebo — and that arm had started with the lowest hair count of the three, 89.54 against 108.83 and 120.33. Hair length and hair thickness did not differ between groups at any visit, and thickness fell in every group across most of the study. Satisfaction was rated good or better by 26.7%, 14.3% and 7.1%. No adverse events in any group.

Population

45 men with pattern hair loss

Intervention

ALAVAX (5-aminolevulinic acid plus GHK peptide) at 100 or 50 mg/mL once daily for 6 months

Comparator

Placebo

Limitations

Fifteen per arm at most, with standard deviations about the size of the effect. The paper gives its group sizes as 15, 14 and 14 in the methods and 15, 15 and 15 in the results, while its satisfaction percentages are fourteenths for the two smaller arms. The higher dose did better at three months and worse at six, so there is no dose-response. A combination product with 5-aminolevulinic acid, so GHK's own contribution is not separable, and the peptide here carries no copper. Supported by a regional small-business agency, with an employee of a medical company thanked in the acknowledgements and no competing-interests statement.