Efficacy and Safety of Tofacitinib Therapy in Asian Patients with Severe Alopecia Areata

In 2020, two studies were conducted on the efficacy and safety of tofacitinib in treating severe alopecia areata (AA), alopecia totalis (AT), and alopecia universalis (AU) in Taiwanese patients. The first study involved 35 patients treated with 5 mg of tofacitinib twice daily for a median duration of 7 months. It found that 74.3% of patients experienced a clinical response, with 51.4% achieving more than 50% hair regrowth over 4-24 months of treatment. The second study involved six patients and combined tofacitinib with MPT, resulting in a median of 21.2% hair regrowth. It also explored the use of fractional CO2 laser treatment for AA, which seemed to shorten the response time for hair regrowth. Both studies concluded that tofacitinib is effective in promoting hair regrowth in patients with severe AA, AT, and AU, but further studies with larger sample sizes were needed to confirm these results and understand the long-term effects of the treatment.