Eflornithine (DFMO) is a selective and orally available ornithine decarboxylase inhibitor that delays hair overgrowth.Eflornithine is used in the study of African trypanosomiasis, malignant glioma, and sleeping sickness.

Eflornithine is the only newly registered molecule for the treatment of human African trypanosomiasis in the past 50 years, mainly serving as a back-up for melarsoprol refractory Trypanosoma brucei gambiense cases[1]. In subjects with excessive facial hair, eflornithine 15% cream reduces hair growth more effectively than placebo, with 58% of eflornithine users showing improvement after 24 weeks compared to 34% for placebo[2]. The hair growth inhibitory effect is significantly enhanced when eflornithine cream is applied to mouse skin pretreated with microneedles[3]. In coarctation hypertensive rats, eflornithine treatment normalizes contractile responses to KCI and norepinephrine and acetylcholine-induced relaxations after 14 days[4].