Actually I just read through the patent again now and it does not say anything about equol being useless alone - he never made a lotion with equol alone. Here is the summary:
Lotion A: Has DGLA, L-propionylcarnitine, and equol. This is "the" main formulation in the patent
Lotion B: Has PGE1, L-propionylcarnitine, and equol. This is an "old" formulation.
Lotion C: Only PGE1.
Lotion D: Only DGLA.
Conclusion: Lotion A shows the best performance, lotion B is second place, lotion C and D show minimal improvement.
So again, it sounds actually like equol is doing a bunch of the work. There is synergy I'm sure, but I don't see how one can expect results without addressing the DHT problem, in this case by using equol. The results seem to agree with that logic. That was sort of the rationale for me post about maybe using a homemade equol topical. If people have a few hundred to burn and time...it might be possible. I know the ethanol vehicle isn't the best. But it might not be that bad either. I would be surprised if it just delivers 0, but I'm also open to being surprised as I don't know the real answer.