GSK Has Hand in Gene-Based 'Baldness Cure'

This is going to be big news -- even though from a science point of view, it's not big news: Scientists have found two genes in the human DNA strand that may be correlated with male hair loss. The business angle is that GlaxoSmithKline has a hand in the research.

Before you go buying GSK stock, please bear in mind that baldness cures in the pharma business are a bit like fat cures: They promise much, and deliver little. See here. And here. And here. Seriously. If Propecia or Rogaine actually worked, why are there so many bald men walking around?

One need not be a genetics boffin to understand that a baldness cure ain't around the corner. I'm loathe to cite Wikipedia as a source but it illustrates my point: The condition has so many possible 'causes' that 'curing' it will require defeating a prohibitive number of non-injurious existing conditions -- and thus at the very least be a deterrent to profits.

Photo by Flickr user Lodigs, CC.