Human study PLS-00032

Intradermal injections of a hair growth factor formulation for enhancement of human hair regrowth - safety and efficacy evaluation in a first-in-man pilot clinical study.

Uncontrolled pilot study · 1,000 participants enrolled

Version 1 · published November 7, 2026 · evidence through November 7, 2026 · research snapshot 2026.1.1 · methodology ev-1 · Automated assessment by AI (claude-opus-5-5 and claude-sonnet-5-5), not reviewed by a person.

Only the abstract was available. Essential methods may be missing, which limits what can be judged.

Reports of this study

Every publication, registration and abstract describing this one study. Participants are counted once.

Intradermal injections of a hair growth factor formulation for enhancement of human hair regrowth - safety and efficacy evaluation in a first-in-man pilot clinical study.primary · Journal of cosmetic and laser therapy : official publication of the European Society for Laser Dermatology · 2018-02-26 · PMID 29482481 · DOI

Design and participants

Design: Uncontrolled pilot study
Population: Patients with male- or female-pattern hair loss, including some post-hair-transplant patients.
Conditions: Alopecia (male and female pattern hair loss)
Planned enrollment (registry): Not reported
Enrolled: 1,000
Randomized: Not reported
Completed follow-up: Not reported

Intervention and comparator

What each group received. Related peptides, analogs and combinations are never treated as the compound itself.

Hair growth factor formulation (intervention) · ghk-cu (combination) · Recombinant bioengineered formulation containing VEGF, basic FGF, IGF, KGF, thymosin beta-4 and copper tripeptide-1, in a sterile injectable vehicle · Intradermal injection into scalp skin · Once every 3 weeks for eight sessions; assessments up to 2 months after completion and at 1 year · 1,000 assigned

What the authors reported

As stated in the sources. This is the authors’ account, not Peptide Library’s assessment.

Hair fall on hair pull test

unclear outcome · patient-important · Before each of eight sessions · Hair pull test performed before every session

Hair growth factor formulation: proportion 83 — Significant reduction in hair fall seen in 83% of patients on hair pull test

Vellus hairs, terminal hairs and shaft diameter

unclear outcome · surrogate · Baseline, fourth session, eighth session, 2 months after completion · Videomicroscopic image evaluation

Hair growth factor formulation: narrative — Most patients had fewer vellus hairs, more terminal hairs and increased shaft diameter

Patient-perceived benefit

unclear outcome · patient-important · Not stated · Questionnaire

Hair growth factor formulation: proportion 75 — 75% of patients believed the injections were aiding treatment of their hair loss

Total hair count

unclear outcome · surrogate · 1 year · Image-based hair count (method not detailed in abstract)

Hair growth factor formulation: change from baseline, p = 0.002 — Statistically significant increase in total hair count continued to be seen at 1 year

Tolerability

unclear outcome · safety · Throughout the study · Physical examination, questionnaires and laboratory examination

Hair growth factor formulation: narrative — Treatment was well tolerated

Adverse events

None reported. That is not evidence of safety.

Monitoring: Physical examination, questionnaires and appropriate laboratory examinations were conducted throughout the study. No specific adverse events are reported in the abstract.

The authors concluded (paraphrased): The authors concluded that intradermal injections of this multi-growth-factor hair formulation may be a promising option for treating male and female pattern hair loss.

Peptide Library’s assessment

An automated assessment, made by AI separately from the authors’ conclusions and not reviewed by a person. How risk of bias is assessed.

Limitations

no control group: Open-label single-arm design with no placebo or comparator group, so improvement cannot be attributed to treatment.
other: Multi-ingredient formulation (growth factors, thymosin beta-4, copper tripeptide-1), so no effect can be attributed to GHK-Cu specifically.
inadequate blinding: Open-label study with subjective outcomes such as patient belief in benefit and image evaluation.
abstract only: Only the abstract is available, so methods, attrition, numerical results and adverse event details are missing.
selective reporting: Results are given mostly as percentages and narrative statements without effect sizes or analyzed numbers.
inappropriate population: Hair loss patients receiving scalp injections differ from populations of interest such as aging facial skin.
incomplete follow up: Number of patients completing the eight sessions and the 1-year follow-up is not reported.
inappropriate endpoint: Main outcomes are hair pull test and videomicroscopy surrogates, plus subjective patient belief, which is unblinded and prone to bias.

Hair fall on hair pull test: Serious concern (Structured limitations appraisal)