Help Setting up Own HairLoss Company?/Who Supplies Dr Lee?

[blobert]

I posted this in General: Men's Hair Loss Treatments by mistake, I meant to post it here, sorry

Hi there,

I'm a fan of Dr. Lee's products (in particular his low PPG Minoxidil). I've been giving some thought recently to setting up a similar service to his here in Europe (complete with doctor to advise and provide prescriptions) and am trying to do a little research into the feasibility of such a venture.

I'd love to be able to find out where Lee gets his products compounded and how much it cost him to do so. I'm sure there's a big markup involved along the way, but it would be interesting to see how much this is. Any information anyone might have to do with this would be much appreciated.

Lee seems to be the only person selling low PPG minoxidil (someone said they sell it on the Genhair.com website but I can't find it). I think there's a big market for this as it's far superior to Rogaine, I can't believe that there aren't more people making it.

On Lee's site he says that the ingredients of his minoxidil are:

65 mL. 5% minoxidil (50 mg minoxidil / mL) in a liquid base of 50% alcohol, 30%
propylene glycol, and 20% water

Surely this would be very straightforward to copy, or am I missing out on something? According to Lee it's not so simple:


"For many physical and chemical reasons, compounding a 5% minoxidil solution was more complicated than anticipated. It took many months of experimentation and a lengthy collaboration with a University of California at Berkeley-affiliated pharmacologist to produce a stable, non-oxidizing, non-greasy-feeling 5% minoxidil lotion that would remain in a stable solution form."

Do you guys think it would be straightforward to find someone to cheaply compound a similar formula to Lee's minoxidil. I have no idea where to go about finding somewhere that does this, and something tells me if I write to Lee or Genhair.com they will not be too forthcoming about their suppliers and prices. I'd imagine Lee's supplier probably wouldn’t be willing to supply the same products to a competitor either. There must be places that would compound and supply me with bulk amount of these products, like I said I don't know where to look.

Finally, do you guys have any ideas what Lee's biggest selling products are? It seems as though Xandrox 15% is a big seller (I'm not sure if that would be as easy to replicate) perhaps spironolactone too? While personally I'd be inclined to use only his standard minoxidil (the other products seem to be considerably more expensive without proper evidence supporting them), I'm sure there is a sizable market for the latest thing (15% minoxidil etc)

Anyway, any thoughts or ideas to do with my plans would be much appreciated. Ideally I could order supplies from the same people that supply Lee/Genhair but failing this any ideas of who to contact about compounding would be much appreciated.

I'll be sure to give you all sizable discounts if/when the business is up and running

Many Thanks,
Robert

 

[The Gardener]

I don't think it is that hard to do. In fact, if you were to take a 5% minoxidil prescription to a real pharmacist, they would supply it to you in a 50/20/30 combination just as Dr Lee does.

I wrote Dr Lee an email asking him why Rogaine doesn't offer its product in a similarly non-greasy vehicle, and in his response he indicated that the greasier combination in Rogaine gives Rogaine better shelf life characteristics and better protection against the minoxidil precipitating out of the vehicle in hot and cold environments.. which is important given the fact that mass-produced Rogaine might have to endure some extremes of temperature during shipping, and then an indeterminate time spent in grocery or drug store inventories, before making it to the shelf for potential purchase.

 

[blobert]

Thanks Gardener,

Any ideas where I could go to get bulk amounts of this done? I mean, if I got a local phramacy to do it I'd imagine it would be quite pricey.

I appreciate your help.

 

[Axon]

I don't think it is that hard to do. In fact, if you were to take a 5% minoxidil prescription to a real pharmacist, they would supply it to you in a 50/20/30 combination just as Dr Lee does.

I wrote Dr Lee an email asking him why Rogaine doesn't offer its product in a similarly non-greasy vehicle, and in his response he indicated that the greasier combination in Rogaine gives Rogaine better shelf life characteristics and better protection against the minoxidil precipitating out of the vehicle in hot and cold environments.. which is important given the fact that mass-produced Rogaine might have to endure some extremes of temperature during shipping, and then an indeterminate time spent in grocery or drug store inventories, before making it to the shelf for potential purchase.

Correct. Any pharmacy capable of making topical Minoxidil will make you a version identical to Dr. Lee's. I am not certain on the prices, I know when I tried it, they wanted 80 bucks.

 

[blobert]

Thanks guys,

Any more advice or info would be much appreciated....

Do you suppose Dr.Lee makes his own products or has a pharmacy do so for him?

 

[Old Baldy]

Now these are just guesses but (1) I would imagine many professional medicine manufacturing companies could make quantities of your non-greasy minoxidil. but (2) if you change the composition, you might be creating a rx "drug". (I would imagine, in my country, the FDA might require a rx because you're selling an rx medicine in a mixture that they haven't approved for OTC sales?) Just a guess.

I think FDA rules keep us in the USA from seeing manufacturers producing non-greasy minoxidil. for OTC sales? The mixture would be changed from what they specifically approved? You might have to get approval to sell that "changed" mixture on the OTC market?

Doctor Lee has the advantage because he's a doctor and can dispense rx medicines. He falls in the "doctor" category. At least that's how it was when I was a kid and doctors sold their "homemade" concoctions. They were given much more leeway when it came to that type of thing. I don't see why that rule would have ever changed.

 

[d_umberly]

Doctor Lee has the advantage because he's a doctor and can dispense rx medicines. He falls in the "doctor" category. At least that's how it was when I was a kid and doctors sold their "homemade" concoctions. They were given much more leeway when it came to that type of thing. I don't see why that rule would have ever changed.

This is how Dr. Proctor sells his prescription products. So you are correct as far as I can tell.