Expecting Scalp Hair Regrowth During Severe Alopecia Areata Treatment with Baricitinib: Insights from Patient Trajectories in Phase III Trials

The study analyzed 855 severe alopecia areata (AA) patients from two phase III trials, BRAVE-AA1 and BRAVE-AA2, who were treated with either 4mg or 2mg of baricitinib. Patients were categorized into early, gradual, and late responders based on when they first achieved ≥ 30% improvement from baseline in Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score. Among patients treated with 4mg baricitinib, 33% were early responders, 28% were gradual, and 8% were late. For those treated with 2mg, the proportions were 20%, 23%, and 9% respectively. Early responders had a shorter trajectory to maximal clinical outcomes. Responders were more frequent in patients with short (< 4 years) episodes of hair loss. The study concluded that these subgroups are influenced by baseline characteristics and will help inform treatment expectations for scalp hair regrowth.