Researchers are trying to leverage AI technology to counter hair loss

The Vancouver, Washington-based startup has described ABS-201 as a “groundbreaking hair loss injectable.”

How it works is ABS-201 targets the body’s prolactin receptor, a protein that plays a role in mammary development as well as in the functioning of the pituitary gland.

The experimental treatment works by affecting the hair growth cycle. There are four stages in hair growth: anagen, catagen, telogen, and exogen; or growth, transition, resting, and shedding.

ABS-201 works on dormant hair follicles by reawakening them and bringing them back to the anagen phase.

Absci claims that its AI platform designed the structure of ABS-201 by predicting which molecules would bind best with the prolactin receptor.

The company already put ABS-201 through phase I trials starting in December 2025, and the results are promising.

Absci noted that ABS-201 was “well tolerated and safe” for use among those with pattern hair loss and the control group that did not have it.

Absci Corporate Vice President for Strategy and Business Operations Wen Sha, in an interview with Clinical Trials Arena, noted that the company is currently reviewing the viability of ABS-201 being a six-month-long treatment, with men receiving two or three injections over this period for long-lasting hair regrowth.

Sha noted that this makes ABS-201 substantially different from common hair loss treatments already out in the market, particularly topical minoxidil and oral finasteride, which both require daily application or daily dosing and are treated as maintenance medications that cease working once the patient stops treatment.

“The key distinction of this mechanism in pattern hair loss, if approved, is that it would be the first durable mechanism of hair regrowth,” said Sha.

In the trial, known as the HEADLINE study, researchers reported that the majority of patients who experienced treatment-emergent adverse events were mild in severity. There were four moderate cases of headache observed, all of which Absci noted may not be related to ABS-201’s mechanism of action. None of the participants experienced major adverse effects.

However, further studies need to be conducted to truly rule out the common possibility of adverse effects. Absci Chief Medical Officer Dr. Ransi Somaratne, in an interview with Clinical Trials Arena, noted that ABS-201 will be going through global phase II trials by the end of 2026, and global phase III trials by late 2027.