Minoxidil was initially used as an oral blood-pressure drug, and its hair-growing side effect led to the development of topical formulations.

“back in the 70s minoxidil was administered for hypertension and it was I think it was people who are on dialysis honestly that were being noted to be on this drug for a long you know long periods of time and the and the the people running those clinics we're seeing patients on minoxidil oral minoxidil and they're literally growing hair on their knuckles almost you know and seeing hair growth in other places and that's how they just and it wasn't really that great of a blood-pressure drug minoxidil and so that's when they decided to move into a topical one”