Is Breezula The Real Deal?

Cassiopea is a clinical-stage pharmaceutical company that focuses on innovative experimental drugs for commercial distribution. The company has been making waves in the hair loss community with their recent announcement. The highly-anticipated Breezula (clascaterone) had positive phase II results in treating androgenic alopecia (genetic hair loss). In this article, we will be discussing Breezula (clasceterone) as a potential treatment for hereditary hair loss.

What Is Breezula, clascaterone (CB-03-01)



Clascaterone is a synthetic steroidal anti-androgen that was often referred to as CB-03-01, which was the developmental code name. The company Cassiopea is developing the drug for two different conditions. The first condition is androgenic alopecia (genetic hair loss) the drugs brand name is called Breezula, the second condition is acne which will be treated by drug brand name Winlevi. Unlike many other anti-androgens Breezula (clascaterone) will be applied topically, as opposed to being ingested in pill form.



How Will Breezula Work?

Breezula (clascaterone) is said to possess powerful anti-androgen activity, some researchers suggest that Breezula (clascaterone) can inhibit androgens locally without eliminating the androgens systemically. This may sound very confusing, but allow me to explain why this piece of information is important. Genetic hair loss is triggered by the androgen DHT. DHT binds to the hair follicles receptor sites and gradually begins to shrink the hair follicles until they no longer grow. This process is called miniaturization or thinning. Breezula is said to stop DHT from binding to the androgen receptor sites in the scalp.



Some of you may be scratching your heads wondering why inhibiting androgens locally is any better than inhibiting androgens systemically. Well, the answer is simple inhibiting androgens locally will theoretically reduce the chances of developing side effects. It is common knowledge that the most effective hair loss treatment on the market today is Propecia (finasteride), but many hair loss sufferers refuse to take the medication because of the horror stories that exist online about the side effects.



What Do The Studies Say So Far?

According to the Phase II results 7.5% Breezula (clascaterone) solution twice per day for 6 months provided similar results to Propecia (finasteride) 1 mg per day after 12 months. Researchers are expecting the 12 month results to surpass Propecia (finasteride) and continue to improve as time goes on. The double-blind clinical trials include a sizeable 404 male patients that are currently being tested with one of four dosages or placebo.



The question that everyone is thinking is what about the side effects? The pharmaceutical company Cassiopea expects the incidence of reported side effects to be significantly lower than anti-androgen drugs that are taken orally. That said, Breezula (clascaterone) does not interfere with the patients hormones systemically. To date, no sexual side effects have been reported in their clinical trials. Final phase III trials for men are being planned in the future. Moreover, Cassiopea will soon start the proof-of-concept (POC) trials for women.

Bottomline



It is easy to get swept in the hype of "future" treatments, but as of today there are only two FDA approved medications to treat genetic hair loss. However, if Breezula (clascaterone) does become approved by the FDA, it will be the first topical anti-androgen to be approved to treat male pattern baldness. While the studies sound promising we should remember that other supposed anti-androgens like Flutamide have shown great promise before with little to no results to show today. That said, if Breezula can be even somewhat as effective as Propecia (finasteride) without the side effects it will be a worthy investment for hairloss sufferers worldwide.

