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Regulators have given the green light to the first alopecia treatment proven to regrow hair.
Trials have shown that taking the daily pill can almost completely reverse the condition that causes hair to fall out in clumps.
Called baricitinib, the drug is already in use on the NHS for a number of conditions, including arthritis, dermatitis and even severe Covid. It works by interrupting faulty signals that cause the immune system to attack hair follicles.
NHS spending leaders will now review baricitinib and decide whether the health service will fund treatment for alopecia.
Charities and doctors celebrated the news and called on the NHS to pay for patients with the most severe form of alopecia to receive baricitinib as soon as possible.
“This is a really important step in the right direction for a group of patients who until now have had no effective treatment options,” said Sue Schilling, chief executive of the Alopecia UK charity.
“Alopecia is an incredibly debilitating condition that makes people depressed, anxious and sometimes even suicidal. The NHS should fund this so patients can receive it for free.”
HIGH PROFILE: Actress Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from alopecia
Trials have shown that taking a daily pill can almost completely reverse alopecia, causing hair to fall out in clumps
dr. Paul Farrant, consultant dermatologist at University Hospitals Sussex NHS Foundation Trust, says: ‘Given the clear benefits, it is likely that people with the most severe form of alopecia will soon have access to baricitinib.’
Alopecia is the term used to describe hair loss, which affects about 40 percent of women and 30 percent of men at some point in their lives.
About 100,000 Britons have a condition called alopecia areata, in which cells in the immune system attack hair follicles for unknown reasons. Over a period of weeks, the hair begins to come out in clumps, resulting in bald patches. Some people also lose eyebrows, eyelashes and hair elsewhere on the body.
The Matrix actress Jada Pinkett Smith suffers from the condition, which sparked worldwide attention in April when Oscar host, comedian Chris Rock, joked about it and was punched onstage by her husband, Will Smith.
Steroid treatments can be prescribed – in cream form, as an injection into the scalp or as pills – and are effective in one in five patients. But long-term use of steroid pills can dramatically increase the risk of serious conditions like type 2 diabetes, so doctors recommend that patients stop taking them after six weeks. Steroid creams can irritate the skin and cause painful migraines.
Baricitinib, part of a family of drugs called JAK inhibitors, can be taken daily and continued indefinitely. Side effects are usually minimal because, unlike steroid drugs, this drug does not attack healthy immune cells.
Studies show that in a third of patients, baricitinib causes hair growth within three months and it continues to grow back. Patients who respond to treatment see 80 percent of their hair back. Some dermatology clinics are already offering patients baricitinib – at a cost of £1,000 a month – and charities are concerned the high price is forcing many to buy the drug abroad.
Baricitinib, part of a family of drugs called JAK inhibitors, can be taken daily and continued indefinitely
“We’ve heard that a number of people bought it from abroad and took it without medical supervision,” says Schilling.
‘Taking such a drug in large doses can be unsafe, especially without supervision. This can be avoided if the treatment is available on the NHS.’
dr. Farrant says he has given baricitinib to more than 30 patients. “For those who respond, the effects can be transformative,” he says. “They go from no hair to full hair.”
One patient who has benefited from baricitinib is Tyson Braun, 37, of Milwaukee, Wisconsin in the US. He started losing his hair when he was 25, after coming down with the flu. “At first it was just spots on my beard,” he says. “Then the hair on my head came out too. Within a year I had no hair left on my body.’
Tyson tried a number of treatments in vain. Two months ago, he got a prescription for baricitinib.
He says: ‘There are already hairs coming out of my face, where I used to have a beard. And there’s even a little bit on my head.
“Every day it feels like there is more. I never expected to have her again. My two sons have only known me as bald. “It’ll take some explaining as it grows out even more.”