{"id":49280,"date":"2022-06-13T21:49:04","date_gmt":"2022-06-13T21:49:04","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/fda-approves-alopecia-drug-that-restores-hair-growth-in-many-patients\/"},"modified":"2022-06-13T21:49:04","modified_gmt":"2022-06-13T21:49:04","slug":"fda-approves-alopecia-drug-that-restores-hair-growth-in-many-patients","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/fda-approves-alopecia-drug-that-restores-hair-growth-in-many-patients\/","title":{"rendered":"FDA Approves Alopecia Drug That Restores Hair Growth in Many Patients"},"content":{"rendered":"<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The disease can vary in severity, but for some, it can be life-altering &#8211; a total loss of body hair, including eyelashes and eyebrows, even nose hair and hair in the ears.  And, until recently, for those with alopecia areata, there was no treatment to make the hair grow back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">But on Monday, the Food and Drug Administration approved baricitinib, a drug made by Eli Lilly that regrows hair by blocking the immune system from attacking hair follicles.  Two other companies, Pfizer and Concert Pharmaceuticals, are close behind with similar drugs, known as JAK inhibitors.  The drugs are already on the market for the treatment of rheumatoid arthritis and other autoimmune diseases.  FDA approval is important for insurance coverage of these expensive drugs, which have a list price of nearly $ 2,500 a month.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Lilly drug was studied in two trials, sponsored by the company and published last month in the New England Journal of Medicine, involving 1,200 patients with severe alopecia areata.  Nearly 40 percent who took the drug had complete or near-complete hair regrowth after 36 weeks.  After a year, nearly half of the patients had their hair back.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Brett King, a dermatology professor at Yale University, was the principal investigator for the two Lilly trials and is also leading trials sponsored by the other companies.  He said he was optimistic that the success rate for the drugs would get better.  Manufacturers may be able to improve the JAK inhibitors for alopecia areata.  And when all three companies have drugs on the market, patients who do not respond to one company&#8217;s drug might respond to one of the others.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Patients in the Lilly study experienced relatively mild side effects, including a small increased risk of acne, urinary tract infections and other infections.  Those side effects were easily treatable or improved without treatment.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">The Lilly trial results \u201care impressive,\u201d wrote Dr. Andrew Messenger of the University of Sheffield and Matthew Harries of the University of Manchester in an accompanying editorial.  They added that the findings &#8220;represent the first published phase 3 trials of any treatment for this condition.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">More than 300,000 Americans live with severe alopecia areata, according to the FDA The impact of the disease is hard to overstate, Dr. King said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">For most people with alopecia areata, the disease manifests as one or a few small bald patches on the head.  But those with severe cases have something much worse.  They may notice small bald spots on their heads one day.  Three months or even three weeks later, they have no hair on their bodies.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. King is widely credited by colleagues for piquing interest in the use of JAK inhibitors to treat alopecia areata.  He said it all began when he noticed three abstracts presented at medical meetings in 2012 and 2013. The studies, led by Dr. Raphael Clynes and Dr. Angela Christiano of Columbia University, involved mice but indicated that JAK inhibitors might reverse alopecia areata.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Shortly afterward, a 25-year-old man named Kyle came to see Dr. King for the treatment of psoriasis.  He had almost no hair and his head and body di lui had big, red scaly psoriasis plaques.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI looked at him and said, &#8216;You have alopecia areata,&#8217;\u201d Dr. King said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Kyle began noticing he had severe hair loss when he was at a dance in high school, wearing a hat.  He went to the bathroom, took off his hat and, to his horror di lui, found a large amount of hair in the hat.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt&#8217;s a Twilight Zone episode,\u201d Dr. King said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He looked at Kyle and said, \u201cIf you want to try something wild that has not been done before, there is a medicine approved for rheumatoid arthritis and being developed for psoriasis.  There is some suggestion in mice that it might work. &#8220;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Kyle agreed to take tofacitinib, a JAK inhibitor made by Pfizer that is similar to the Lilly drug.  Eight months later, he had his hair back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">After Dr. King published a report on Kyle, other dermatologists began trying JAK inhibitors.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Maryanne Makredes Senna, the director of the Hair Loss Center of Excellence at Beth Israel Lahey Health in Massachusetts, was among them.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She would prevail upon insurers to cover the drugs, and sometimes she would succeed.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt&#8217;s a beautiful thing to see the amazing impact,\u201d said Dr. Senna, who has received consulting fees from Eli Lilly and Pfizer.  \u201cThey come in with no hair, totally withdrawing from life.  Their eyes are cast down.  They come back and say, &#8216;I have my life back.  I have my self back. &#8216;&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Natasha Atanaskova Mesinkovska, the chief scientific officer at the National Alopecia Areata Foundation and a dermatology professor at the University of California, Irvine, helped the pharmaceutical companies find patients for their trials.  She, too, has been impressed by the results in those who have responded to the drugs.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Severe hair loss not only \u201crobs a person of their identity\u201d but is \u201ca medical issue,\u201d she said, adding that when people lose hair in their nose and ears, it affects allergies and hearing.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Christian Daniels, 27, a data center technician who lives in Peoria, Ill., Said hair loss also affected his eyes.  Without eyelashes, dust would get into his eyes by him and irritate them so much he began putting Vaseline on his eyelids by him.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Mr. Daniels&#8217;s hair started falling out when he was 25. Within a month, all of his body hair was gone.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Covid-19 was \u201ca blessing in disguise,\u201d he said, because he could work at home.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cI felt like my life had been put on hold,\u201d he said.  &#8220;I felt like the only thing that mattered was how to get my hair back.&#8221;<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">He found the Lilly trials by &#8220;Googling and Googling.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Now, he said, \u201cit&#8217;s almost like it never happened,\u201d although he still has flashbacks sometimes when he looks in a mirror and remembers his hairless self.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n<div>\n<div class=\"css-53u6y8\">\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Dr. Brittany Craiglow, a dermatologist in private practice in Fairfield, Conn., Who is married to Dr. King, said severe alopecia areata was especially difficult for children.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One patient, Cassidy Mackwell of Canton, Mass., Lost her hair when she was 8. When adults saw her, they assumed she had cancer.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cPeople would come up to Cassidy when we were in a restaurant having dinner,\u201d said her mother, Melissa Mackwell.  Some would even try to pay for their meals.  \u201cThey would hug her and say, &#8216;I&#8217;m so sorry.  Keep fighting. &#8216;&#8221;<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">One of Dr. Craiglow&#8217;s patients, Brooke Nelson, who lives in Belleville, NJ, lost all of her long blond hair when she was in first grade.  Brooke was so embarrassed by her hair loss di lei that her mother di lei, Danielle Nelson, home-schooled her.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">She took Brooke to medical center after medical center, to doctor after doctor, but to no avail.  \u201cI would have given up my house, given up everything if that meant giving Brooke back her hair,\u201d Ms. Nelson said.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">Ms. Nelson was ready to take Brooke to China for stem cell therapy when she found Dr. Craiglow, who gave Brooke a JAK inhibitor.  Her hair di lei grew back.<\/p>\n<p class=\"css-at9mc1 evys1bk0\">\u201cIt was a miracle,\u201d Ms. Nelson said.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<aside class=\"css-ew4tgv\" aria-label=\"companion column\"\/><\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>The disease can vary in severity, but for some, it can be life-altering &#8211; a total loss of body hair, including eyelashes and eyebrows, even nose hair and hair in the ears. And, until recently, for those with alopecia areata, there was no treatment to make the hair grow back. But on Monday, the Food &hellip;<\/p>\n<p class=\"read-more\"> <a class=\"\" href=\"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/fda-approves-alopecia-drug-that-restores-hair-growth-in-many-patients\/\"> <span class=\"screen-reader-text\">FDA Approves Alopecia Drug That Restores Hair Growth in Many Patients<\/span> Read More &raquo;<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"default","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","spay_email":"","jetpack_publicize_message":"","jetpack_is_tweetstorm":false,"jetpack_publicize_feature_enabled":true},"categories":[8],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"","jetpack_publicize_connections":[],"jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"fifu_image_url":"https:\/\/static01.nyt.com\/images\/2022\/06\/13\/science\/13alopecia-promo\/13alopecia-promo-facebookJumbo.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49280"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=49280"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/49280\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=49280"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=49280"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/harchi90.com\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=49280"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}