AnaGain turns up in the ingredient panels of many "peptide" hair serums, usually in a list of trade names alongside Redensyl, Procapil and Capixyl. It is not a peptide and not a drug. It is an extract of pea sprouts, made and sold to brands by one Swiss supplier, and nearly everything published about it was written by that supplier. This page sets out what it is, where the numbers quoted for it come from, and what has not been tested.
For the wider evidence on peptides and hair, see our peptides for hair growth hub.
What AnaGain is
AnaGain is made by Mibelle Biochemistry, part of the Mibelle Group in Buchs, Switzerland. On the product page read on 28 October 2026 the company describes it as "based on organic pea sprouts", sourced from a small Swiss sprout grower, and lists three versions:
| Version | INCI declaration (maker's page) |
|---|---|
| AnaGain (standard) | Pisum Sativum (Pea) Sprout Extract (and) Phenoxyethanol (and) Sodium Benzoate (and) Aqua / Water |
| AnaGain pf (no preservatives) | Pisum Sativum (Pea) Sprout Extract (and) Alcohol (and) Aqua / Water |
| AnaGain pwd (powder, two-fold concentrated) | Pisum Sativum (Pea) Sprout Extract (and) Isomalt (and) Aqua / Water |
The recommended use level is 2 to 4 percent of a finished product. A fourth product, AnaGain Nu, is a powder from germinated peas sold for supplements.
It is not a peptide. No peptide appears in any declaration. Plant extracts contain small amounts of many compounds, including protein fragments, but the label, the maker and the studies all treat AnaGain as a whole extract, not a defined molecule.
The claim, and where it comes from
Mibelle's page states that "in a clinical study" the anagen-to-telogen coefficient (growing hairs over resting hairs) improved "from 4 to 7.2 corresponding to a 78% increase in hair growth in just 3 months".
Two things about that sentence:
- Its source is not given on the page, and no peer-reviewed paper reporting it was found. A PubMed search on 28 October 2026 for AnaGain, pea sprout or Pisum sativum with hair or alopecia returned 22 records; every title was read, and none reports a 4-to-7.2 ratio. The AnaGain Nu page cites, alongside two PubMed papers, a 2013 article in SOFW Journal, a cosmetics trade magazine (Schmid and colleagues), which is not a peer-reviewed journal and was not readable as an article page.
- A ratio of growing to resting hairs is not hair growth. A rise in the ratio can come from fewer resting hairs as well as more growing ones, and says nothing on its own about hair count or thickness. "78% increase in hair growth" is a restatement of the ratio, not a measured gain in hair.
The published studies
Grothe, Wandrey and Schuerch, Phytotherapy Research, 2020. The only indexed human paper on the extract, and the one Mibelle cites. All three authors are listed at Mibelle Group Biochemistry, the paper declares "no conflicts of interest", and Mibelle announced its publication as "our peer-reviewed article". It reports two small studies:
- A fluid with 2 percent pea-sprout extract applied to a defined scalp zone in 10 volunteers raised the expression of two hair-related genes (FGF7 by 56 percent and noggin by 85 percent). This is a gene-expression measure, not a count of hairs.
- A pilot in 21 volunteers taking 100 mg of AnaGain Nu a day for 8 weeks by mouth reported significantly less hair loss after 28 days. The abstract does not describe a placebo group.
Kim and colleagues, Journal of Microbiology and Biotechnology, 2025. A cell and mouse study from Chung-Ang University in Seoul showing that pea-sprout extract acted on hair-cycle signals in dermal papilla cells and in mice. Co-authors are listed at three Korean companies, including Chong Kun Dang Healthcare, and the paper declares no financial conflicts. It refers to "a previous randomized clinical trial" of 100 mg a day for 8 weeks that increased hair density; that trial was not found among the indexed records.
A 2025 review in the International Journal of Trichology (Bikash) surveyed AnaGain with Redensyl, Procapil, Capixyl and Baicapil and found these actives "have been studied mostly as combined formulations with other agents" — which means the trials of finished serums cannot show what any one of them contributes.
On the label
In finished products AnaGain is usually named in marketing copy, while the ingredient list carries the INCI name. The Ordinary's Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density names AnaGain among its actives; its own list (read 28 October 2026) declares Pisum Sativum Extract at position 9 of 36, after caffeine and the two peptides and before the other plant extracts. Note that the finished product's list says "Pisum Sativum Extract", while Mibelle's declaration says "Pisum Sativum (Pea) Sprout Extract"; the label alone cannot confirm which supplier's extract is used, only that a pea extract is. Our analysis of that serum covers the rest of its list, and our guide to reading a peptide ingredient list explains why position cannot give a percentage.
What has not been studied
- A placebo-controlled trial of topical AnaGain on hair count, by anyone independent of its maker.
- AnaGain against minoxidil, the approved topical drug for pattern hair loss.
- Any finished product containing AnaGain, in a trial that isolates its contribution.
- Use in women and men separately, or in any diagnosed hair-loss condition.
What can fairly be said
AnaGain is a pea-sprout extract from one supplier, sold at 2 to 4 percent into hair products that are often marketed as peptide serums. Its record is one small paper by the maker's staff, one cell and mouse study, and a 78 percent figure on the maker's website that is a ratio, not a hair count, and that traces to no peer-reviewed paper found. Hair loss has many causes, several of them medical; a dermatologist can sort out which applies before any product is chosen. For the ingredients with more trials behind them, see peptides for men's hair, peptides for hair thickness and biotinoyl tripeptide-1.
Sources
Opened 28 October 2026: Mibelle Biochemistry product pages mibellebiochemistry.com/anagaintm (INCI declarations, use level, the 4-to-7.2 claim) and /anagaintm-nu (references incl. Schmid et al., SOFW Journal 09-2013), news pages "Behind the scenes: The story of AnaGain" (8 October 2019) and "Publication of AnaGain Nu" (6 November 2019). PubMed search ("pea sprout"[tiab] OR "pisum sativum"[tiab] OR anagain[tiab]) AND (hair[tiab] OR alopecia[tiab]) (22, every title read). Abstracts: Grothe T, Wandrey F, Schuerch C, Phytother Res 2020;34:428–431, PMID 31680356; Kim Y et al., J Microbiol Biotechnol 2025, PMID 41309367; Bikash C, Int J Trichol 2025, PMID 40654553. The Ordinary, Multi-Peptide Serum for Hair Density product page (full ingredient list). Corrections go to the contact page.