LAUSR

Association Between Gender and Drug Cost for Over-the-Counter Minoxidil Minoxidil is a US Food and Drug Administration (FDA)– approved over-the-counter topical medication for androgenetic alopecia marketed and sold to men and women. Approximately 50 million men and 30 million women in the United States have androgenetic alopecia,1 and hair loss treatments represent a global market valued at $7.2 billion in 2015.2 Minoxidil is available as a 5% solution to be applied twice daily for men, 2% solution applied twice daily for women, and 5% foam applied twice daily for men (FDA approved in 2006) and once daily for women (FDA approved in 2014). Gender-based price differences have been well documented in consumer products: one 2015 report found that women’s personal products were 13% more expensive than equivalent men’s products.3 However, to our knowledge, gender-based price differences for medications have not been previously studied. We aimed to investigate price differences by gender for minoxidil products.