Guinter Kahn | Rogaine developer, 80
Guinter Kahn, 80, a South Florida dermatologist credited with helping develop the first baldness remedy recognized by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, died Sept. 17 at a Miami hospice. His health had been declining since a stroke eight years ago, his daughter, Michelle, said.
Guinter Kahn, 80, a South Florida dermatologist credited with helping develop the first baldness remedy recognized by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office, died Sept. 17 at a Miami hospice. His health had been declining since a stroke eight years ago, his daughter, Michelle, said.
Dr. Kahn's name was added to the patent for minoxidil in 1986 after a 15-year legal struggle with Upjohn Co. Minoxidil is the active ingredient in Rogaine.
Upjohn originally synthesized minoxidil to treat high blood pressure in the early 1960s. When Dr. Charles Chidsey - one of the company's consultants working at the University of Colorado's medical school - noticed the drug stimulated hair growth, Chidsey went to Dr. Kahn and his assistant, Paul Grant. Dr. Kahn was running the school's dermatology department at the time.
The Miami Herald reported that Dr. Kahn and Grant eventually developed a topical solution for minoxidil in 1971. The pair earned royalties, said to be 2 to 5 percent, from Upjohn's $200 million of wholesale annual revenues from Rogaine in the late 1980s.
While Dr. Kahn benefited financially from his discovery, he couldn't actually use it to treat his own baldness.
"He was allergic to it," his daughter told the Herald. "But he loved tinkering around, doing research."
Dr. Kahn was born to a German-Jewish family in Trier, Germany. He fled the Nazis with his family in 1938 and ended up in Omaha, Neb., where he attended medical school. - AP