Topical Finasteride vs. the Same Drug in Pill Form

What are your thoughts on this “new” topical Finasteride formulation which claims that, “The effectiveness appears to be equal to oral Finasteride, but serum levels are 1/18th that of the oral route.”

My problem with this is the function of Finasteride. Doesn’t Finasteride work to effectively inhibit the formation of DHT? If the serum levels of Finasteride are 1/18th, then DHT is still being formed in the rest of the body as normal, which will eventually circulate to the scalp. Do you think it’s possible that somehow this topical route actually effectively inhibits DHT in the scalp properly? Or do you think this study is not well done (it was done by the creators of the gel, so there’s obvious conflicts of interest)?

If the only prescribed strength is 2.5% gel, which is equivalent to 1.5mg orally, how would one reduce the dose of this as you mentioned in this blog post: https://newhair.com/what-dose-do-you-usually-recommend-for-people-who-want-to-take-reduced-dose-of-finasteride/

I really don’t know. You want to reduce the topical dose, but I don’t know evidence that this works. Frankly, we are flying blind here.