Latest Hair Loss News

Taisho wins Japan OK for RiUP women's hair tonic

The company, which had runaway success with its men's hair tonic RiUP when it was launched in 1999, said the new product would go on sale in March.

Taisho declined to give the price or a sales target, saying it plans to hold a news conference on the launch in the near future. The Japanese market for women's hair growth tonic was estimated at one billion yen ($9.50 million) in the year to March 2004, against 31 billion yen for the men's hair tonic market.

"We hope that our new product will stimulate latent demand," a Taisho spokesman said.

It will compete with Shiseido Co. Ltd.'s Serum Noir and Kao Corp's Blaune hair growth products. Taisho licensed development and marketing rights of the RiUP baldness remedy, sold under the name Rogaine in the United States, from Upjohn Inc, which is now part of Pfizer Inc , and launched the product for men in Japan in June 1999.

Media hoopla over RiUP's launch helped boost first-year sales of it to nearly 30 billion yen. Sales have been declining since then, and are projected to total 13 billion yen in the business year ending on March 31.