$1.5 billon a year

35 million Americans spend $1.5 billion a year on hairrestoration products, drugs and transplant surgery.

So why should there be a cure for baldness?? Now keep in mind this figure was from 2004, so I’m sure it maybe higher than 1.5 billion now.

» 35 million Americans spend $1.5 billion a year on hairrestoration products,
» drugs and transplant surgery.
»
» So why should there be a cure for baldness?? Now keep in mind this figure
» was from 2004, so I’m sure it maybe higher than 1.5 billion now.

Because the cure can be expensive? Because more people would be willing to get a problem cured than treated? Because the cure is less invasive than current protocols? Take off the tinfoil hat.

Why cure spinal injuries when there’s a wheelchair market to lobby against it?

Why switch to DVDs when there are VCR people and factories to dis-emply?

Why create VCRs or DVDs in the first place when it severely hurts movie theater business?

Why invent automobiles when there are thriving horse and buggy industries?

Why invent anything if it stands to cost somebody else money?

The conspiracy ideas never end in the MPB world, but the argument doesn’t hold water.

$1.5 billion dollars spread around thousands of people, HT clinics, companies, etc? Or take that $1.5 billion, and dump almost ALL of it into the hands of ONE company when they make something that really works? No company with a brain in its head is gonna sit around ignoring that prize out of concern for the good of their competitors.

» 35 million Americans spend $1.5 billion a year on hairrestoration products,
» drugs and transplant surgery.
»
» So why should there be a cure for baldness?? Now keep in mind this figure
» was from 2004, so I’m sure it maybe higher than 1.5 billion now.

I hate these conspiracy theories, they are so unrealistic it’s untrue.

The figure of 1.5 billion would be tiny compared to the figure if there was a real solution, there are millions of men who just go bald and forget about it that would be interested if there was a real, lasting solution.

The life-long cash that drug companies get isn’t a good argument either, if a company cures baldness there will be generations of customers.

I still think there will never be a cure, it will piss off alot of corporations big time, its like taking away their annual allowance.

Why fix something and stop the billions of dollars from coming in? Let’s keep it broken and get reap the awards and get richer…:slight_smile:

Think about it though. Its 1.5 billion for the whole industry. Its not just going all to one company!

If a company did come up with a solution then that entire 1.5 billion could be theirs!

Take a product, any product. Lets say Revivogen. If a cure was discovered by Follica that was affordable and produced really good sustainable results would anyone really ever buy Revivogen again? I am guessing no.

And therefore they would go out of business. My point is that a lot of companies e.g. Revivogen, enter the market because they know there isn’t a cure yet or even coming for a few years. So why not get as much money as they can until then?!

No one in any market ever would release a product if they knew that there was something bigger and better just round the corner! What would be the point? Make a few bucks before you are trumped? Just recover costs maybe.

Fewer of these shame products will be appearing the nearer we get to a solution because they know they will never be able to compete.

There is no conspiracy but you have to admit there will be quite a few companies that will go out of business if a solution ever is found!

Whoever does it will be very very very rich!

There are MANY men who are balding and aren’t doing anything about it. Then there are men that are spending that 1.5 billion on all different kinds of treatments. If a “cure” comes out, it may still involve some form of surgery, which still means there will be a business in hair restoration. More men will actually do something about their hair loss, which in turn will lead to potentially higher profits for those companies “curing” MPB. Those who will be upset that they can no longer sell their product will just have to move on and find something else to sell. No one cried when DVDs and blue rays came out. No one cried when Iphones/Blackberrys came out and replaced older generation phones. You have to learn to keep up with the latest technology/medicine and anticipate it.

I hope you are right, but when it comes to medicine it is a different story.
These big giant corporations are like mafias, if they find the little guy has found the cure they would wipe him out.

We have seen sheeps being cloned, alot of scientific breakthroughs but still no cure for hairloss??

It’s true that the big guys run the show, but there are similar big guys who want hair regeneration to succeed (Bosley being one). When I spoke to Dr. Armani about hair regeneration using stem cells, he told me that it would still involve surgery, but it would rid the need to extract thousands of follicles from the back of your head. Hence, hair transplant surgeons would still be in business.

How much is Merck going to lose from no longer being able to sell Propecia? Only $90-100 million, which is about 1% of their total revenue (their total revenue is 5.4 billion). They can more than make up for that by increasing their prices in other drugs or coming out with different drugs for different ailments.

» We have seen sheeps being cloned, alot of scientific breakthroughs but
» still no cure for hairloss??

If you explain us the relation ( cause-effect ) between cloning a sheep and growing hair on a bald scalp, then you are right, otherwise you have created another useless thread … congratulations !!

Guys propecia is not such a best seller as it thought it would be, there are many issues that make many people not want to try it, or try it and stop it for various reasons.If something worthwhile comes along from another large corporation they cannot stop it, lets not get too paranoid. to go into that trouble of trying to stop research you must have the best selling drug.

If propecia was giving a full head of hair and didnt have sides the sales would be through the roof we would be talking billions in sales from all around the world…and then if some company would come and found a way to get a full head of hair with one treatment then they most certainly would sent snipers lol… but now its just dont worth it.

I agree that these drug companies can work like the mafia, they generally prefer a drug that you take everyday for the rest of your life than a very expensive drug that works one time and thats it, so they might have developed treatments that they never showed to the pubblic or stopped the research before it goes to the final stage just because of that. they want to have you as a customer forever to ensure sales for decades not for one day, its macroeconomics for them.

Q. Why does Sony sell $300 televisions when they could sell $5000 televisions instead?

A. Because damn near nobody will actually buy a $5000 television.

Q. Why would corporate pharma want to sell me a $300 baldness cure when they could sell me a $5000 baldness cure?

A. Because damn near nobody will buy a $5000 baldness cure. It’s still true even if I happen to be one of the few who are willing to pay $5000. It’s still true even if I am paying the $5000 even though I can’t really afford it. I may be personally invested in the fight but corporate pharma does not give a sh*t. My $5000 does not count for more than any $5000 that they make any other way.

Corporate pharma doesn’t take things personally. They’re not emotionally invested in this. They’ll ruin your life in a heartbeat if they can make more money one way, but they’ll also turn around and fix your life in a heartbeat if they can make even just 1% more profit the other way.

I don’t think the big pharmacuetical companies are really worried about anyone coming out with a cure for baldness. I think that their big issue is with any type of cell or regenerative type of treatment. Any big advancements can quickly change the landscape of the way diseases are treated.
They could easily see their business model deteriorate quickly if something were to come out too soon. They need to get a foothold before you will see major advancements. That’s the way it works.

I reccommend Zeitgeist (the addendum) available on the internet for free. The 3rd part will give most a clearer picture on why this is so.

» The conspiracy ideas never end in the MPB world, but the argument doesn’t
» hold water.
»
» $1.5 billion dollars spread around thousands of people, HT clinics,
» companies, etc? Or take that $1.5 billion, and dump almost ALL of it
» into the hands of ONE company when they make something that really
» works?
No company with a brain in its head is gonna sit around
» ignoring that prize out of concern for the good of their competitors.

» 35 million Americans spend $1.5 billion a year on hairrestoration products,
» drugs and transplant surgery.
»
» So why should there be a cure for baldness?? Now keep in mind this figure
» was from 2004, so I’m sure it maybe higher than 1.5 billion now.

Questionable. If men spend 1.5 billion a year on restoration, I think a solid cure for hair loss would have a much bigger market.

How did you get $100 million???

Merck in 2006 made $618 million with propecia. Now it is not only used for Baldness, but still Im sure they make more than $100 million for the baldness treatment

Major products
2006, by revenue(millions):[7]

Singulair, $3,579
Cozaar $3,163
Fosamax $3,134
Zocor, $2,802
Primaxin $704.8
Cosopt $697.1
Proscar $618.5

http://www.sourcewatch.org/index.php?title=Merck/stats%2C_details

» It’s true that the big guys run the show, but there are similar big guys
» who want hair regeneration to succeed (Bosley being one). When I spoke to
» Dr. Armani about hair regeneration using stem cells, he told me that it
» would still involve surgery, but it would rid the need to extract thousands
» of follicles from the back of your head. Hence, hair transplant surgeons
» would still be in business.
»
» How much is Merck going to lose from no longer being able to sell
» Propecia? Only $90-100 million, which is about 1% of their total revenue
» (their total revenue is 5.4 billion). They can more than make up for that
» by increasing their prices in other drugs or coming out with different
» drugs for different ailments.

Its not a useless thread, its the fact. There maybe a cure but guess what, not in this lifetime. I just put myself in the big corporation shoes and think like they do, and why would I want a cure for baldness when I can have the customer keeping coming back for treatments, kind of like the drug dealer getting you hooked on a drug.

» » We have seen sheeps being cloned, alot of scientific breakthroughs but
» » still no cure for hairloss??
»
» If you explain us the relation ( cause-effect ) between cloning a sheep
» and growing hair on a bald scalp, then you are right, otherwise you have
» created another useless thread … congratulations !!

» How did you get $100 million???

Sorry, I just looked at the article again, and it said 98 million in the second quarter. Even still, multiply that by 4 and you still have about 5%+ of the company’s revenue. There are many ways to make up for that :).

Merck Propecia

If hair cloning/regeneration does come out, it won’t necessarily be a “cure”. Patients may still need to come back for futher treatments years down the line in the event that DHT attacks the new hair follicles.

Lets just hope something comes out soon…

» » How did you get $100 million???
»
» Sorry, I just looked at the article again, and it said 98 million in the
» second quarter. Even still, multiply that by 4 and you still have about 5%+
» of the company’s revenue. There are many ways to make up for that :).
»
» Merck
» Propecia

Its not a useless thread, its the fact. There maybe a cure but guess what, not in this lifetime. I just put myself in the big corporation shoes and think like they do, and why would I want a cure for baldness when I can have the customer keeping coming back for treatments, kind of like the drug dealer getting you hooked on a drug.

If you’re a corporate power player, then you also don’t think much more than 5-10 years ahead. Most of the stuff you do every day focuses on the next 5 years or less.

A continuing steady stream of income won’t boost your stock prices very much when that steady stream amounts to less than 1% of the population spending a few hundred bucks a year.

But inventing a cure or treatment for MPB will skyrocket your stock prices so high through the roof it’s not even funny. That would generate a few hundred, or more likely a few thousand, bucks from half the entire male population in the next several years. (Okay, You might not really get quite that many of the males. But the portion of women suffering from “male pattern” hair loss is a significant figure and you’re gonna get a HUGE percentage of them. It would more than make up the difference. We’re talking 20-30% of everyone in the developed world who has the money to buy it.)

And the long term?

Hell, if you released this treatment/cure tomorrow, it will take 10 years before the cure/treatment even begins to penetrate the majority of the market. That’s as long-term as anyone in your industry ever thinks. (Orthodontics were invented in my parents generation. And the prevalence of people getting that work done is STILL growing today.)

A real treatment would bring an ASTRONOMICAL amount of money. You just can’t even put the profits from Propecia or Minox in the same discussion. You really can’t.