Doctor of Medicine: Is RU58841 used for seborrheic alopecia? The most comprehensive literature review!

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What is RU58841?
In order to facilitate the reading of the following content, it is first necessary to clarify that RU58841 is a chemical substance code name, which is a male hormone antagonist (Androgen antagonist). The so-called male hormone antagonist refers to its ability to compete with male hormones (including testosterone and dihydrotestosterone) for male hormone receptors (AR), and inhibit the binding of male hormones to their receptors without affecting the concentration of male hormones, thereby inhibiting the role of male hormones in organs and tissues.
RU58841 has been a topical anti androgen compound for many years, and we can trace its origins back to an academic paper titled [1]: RU58841, a new specific topical anti androgen: A candidate of choice for the treatment of acne, androgenic alopecia and hirsutism, published in The Journal of Steroid Biochemistry and Molecular Biology in January 1994.

As an anti androgen compound, many people are concerned about the side effects of RU58841. In theory, the side effects of RU should be much smaller than those of similar finasteride, partly because it is applied topically to the skin, and partly because it is only a androgen antagonist and does not directly affect the concentration of testosterone or dihydrotestosterone [1,7]. In addition, reference [1] also confirms that topical RU does not infect the body's blood system. References [4, 5] have demonstrated the potential of RU in treating hair loss.