Forget GLP-1 stocks, baldness drugs are Wall Street’s next goldmine

Drugmakers found a promising cure for the obesity epidemic and their stocks were rewarded for it.

Now, investors are salivating over a new crop of companies tackling a more purely aesthetic problem: baldness.

Pattern hair loss affects an estimated 50 million men and 30 million women in the US, but there have been no new approved drugs since the late 1990s.

The promise of novel treatments has sent shares of Veradermics Inc., which trades as “MANE,” up nearly 500% since the company went public in February, while Absci Corp.’s stock has more than doubled so far in 2026 .

Cosmo NV also had positive results for an experimental male hair-loss treatment, though its Zurich-listed shares have been weighed down by the success of US competitors.

Those who are ineligible for hair transplant surgery — or can’t afford it — are left with two main options: over-the-counter topical minoxidil, the active ingredient in Rogaine, or prescription finasteride , branded as Propecia.

They can come with some debilitating side effects; minoxidil is linked to heart palpitations while finasteride is known to lower sex drive.

Wall Street sees new treatments as an untapped goldmine, full of consumers who are willing to pay out-of-pocket for better options, reminiscent of the boom in GLP-1 weight-loss drugs.

“People will fly all the way to Turkey to have some hair moved around on their head,” said Needham analyst Gil Blum, who rates Absci a buy.

“Can you imagine if you could do that without getting a hair transplant?” Drugmakers and investors alike are hoping for a repeat of the successes of the weight-loss drugs that vaulted Eli Lilly & Co.’s market value across the $1 trillion threshold and made Novo Nordisk A/S, briefly, the most valuable company in Europe.

One of the closest to market is Cosmo’s topical medicine, clascoterone, which targets the root cause of male-pattern hair loss by blocking a hormone that causes it directly at the hair follicle.

The company says the treatment could be the “single biggest opportunity” in its portfolio and plans to submit a new drug application to US regulators in the first quarter of 2027.

Clascoterone 5% topical solution leverages the same active ingredient used in Winlevi, Cosmo’s acne treatment product.

While new medicines are likely more than a year away from hitting US shelves, analysts expect Cosmo shares to nearly double over the next 12 months.