Doctor who helped develop Rogaine dies in Miami

MIAMI (AP) — A South Florida dermatologist credited with helping develop the first baldness remedy recognized by the U.S. Patent and Trademark Office has died. He was 80.

Dr. Guinter Kahn’s daughter Michelle said her father died Sept. 17 at a Miami hospice. His health had been declining since a stroke eight years ago.

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 Kahn and his medical assistant, Dr. Paul Grant. Kahn was running the school’s dermatology department at the time.

The Miami Herald (http://goo.gl/KZJqqt) reports that 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 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.”

Kahn was born May 11, 1934, to a German-Jewish family in Trier, Germany. He fled the Nazis with his family in 1938 and ended up in Omaha, Nebraska.

Kahn graduated from the University of Nebraska Medical Center in 1958 and later completed a medical residency at the University of Miami School of Medicine. He maintained a private practice in North Miami Beach for more than 30 years.

His funeral was held in Nebraska last week, but his South Florida friends will be able to attend a memorial this weekend in Miami.

Besides his daughter Michelle, Kahn is survived by his longtime partner Judy Felsenstein, his son Bruce, his brother Marcel and grandchildren Nathan and Emma.

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Information from: The Miami Herald, http://www.herald.com

Copyright 2014 The Associated Press. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.

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