Both treatments use liposomes, and the similarities stop there.
1) Hasson & Wong uses liposomes to prevent the treatment from going systemic. Brotzu uses liposomes to facilitate penetration.
2) Hasson & Wong's liposomes don't work as their treatment goes systemic. Brotzu's liposomes do work as their treatment does penetrate the scalp.
3) They also use different pharmaceuticals. Finasteride inhibits 5-alpha-reductase. Brotzu's formulation contains s-equol which neutralized DHT and also binds to the estrogen-beta receptor. It also contains DGLA and L-Carinitine, which stimulate beta cells, vasodilation, and decrease inflammation.
I agree, Polichem has a better scientific rationale.
I actually don't believe liposomes are at all necessary in Brotzu's formulation. Equol penetrates the skin just fine in regular vehicles. It's a small molecule similar to estrogens and natural estrogens do fine in creams and other topical formulations. It's even been tested and proven to absorb fine in the skin study I posted in the equol thread.
I think 99% of the delay in bringing Brotzu to market has been the difficulty of trying to build effective and shelf-stable liposomes. I'm not sure why he's so fixated on liposomes. In principle, I think liposomes are supposed to focus the absorption to the follicles by promoting follicular transport:
But s-equol is such a safe and natural product. Although this idea is "nice" I don't see why he's using so much time and energy on this, when he could just as easily put out a Brotzu solution (in a standard base of ethanol/PG/water like minoxidil) and then come back to the liposomes later if they're so hard to develop.
As for Hasson & Wong, as I have said many times on this site, I still maintain we will
never see a prescription strength anti-androgen as a topical agent brought to market due to the risks to pregnant women and children from shedding and contact transfer. People have been testing topical finasteride for many, many years. There are very old studies on topical finasteride, yet no one has sold it commercially.
This is because it is a class action lawsuit waiting to happen. This is the sort of dumb product lawyers jerk off waiting for.
If you want a topical anti-androgen for hair loss, you will have to mix it yourself or get it custom compounded. And then you better at least try to be responsible about it and not expose vulnerable people to it, eg. via pillowcases etc.
