Distinguished Professor Michael Jung and his UCLA collaborators are featured in a recent New York Magazine article about their groundbreaking research on a potential cure for baldness.
The New York Magazine article highlights the development and rising excitement around PP405, a potential breakthrough treatment for hair loss, with a specific focus on Jung’s pivotal role. Jung, known for designing successful cancer drugs, was brought into a collaboration with UCLA colleagues Professors Bill Lowry (Molecular, Cell and Developmental Biology) and Heather Christofk (Biological Chemistry) after they discovered a novel way to stimulate hair follicle stem cells in mice. When the team needed to transform their experimental compound into something viable for humans, Jung used his medicinal chemistry expertise to create new molecules that could penetrate human scalp tissue — a key step that led to the creation of PP405.
Jung’s contribution was critical in turning early lab findings into a potentially transformative drug by modifying the compound UK-5099 into PP405, which could safely and effectively stimulate dormant hair follicles in human skin samples. His work helped launch Pelage Pharmaceuticals, the startup now leading clinical trials. If PP405 succeeds, Jung’s involvement will be seen as instrumental in what could become the most significant advancement in hair-loss treatment in decades.
Jung, the Walter and Shirley Wang Professor of Medicinal Drug Discovery, has made exceptional contributions to UCLA in the areas of research, teaching, and service. In the past few years, he has had great success in the development of drugs for prostate cancer. UCLA has benefited tremendously from Jung’s accomplishments, receiving more than $1.1B from selling the patent rights to the prostate cancer drug Xtandi. His second drug, Erleada, also for prostate cancer, was approved in 2018. The royalties from that drug are also helping with fellowships and research at UCLA. He has co-founded 14 biotech companies and serves as a consultant or scientific advisory board member for several pharmaceutical and biotech firms. Currently four drugs from his lab are in phase 1 or phase 2 clinical trials.
Jung recently presented the UCLA Academic Senate’s 130th Faculty Research Lecture. He was recently awarded the 2025 National Academy of Sciences (NAS) Award for Chemistry in Service to Society and the 2025 Edward E. Smissman Award from the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry. In August 2024, Jung was inducted into the ACS Division of Medicinal Chemistry Hall of Fame. His other recent awards and honors include the IUPAC-Richter Prize in Medicinal Chemistry in 2022 and the AACR Outstanding Achievement in Chemistry in Cancer Research Award in 2019.
In 2017, Jung and his wife, Alice, endowed the Michael and Alice Jung Chair in Medicinal Chemistry and Drug Discovery to enable UCLA to hire and support future scientists/educators.
Penny Jennings, UCLA Department of Chemistry & Biochemistry, penjen@g.ucla.edu.
