Treatment of severe alopecia areata with baricitinib
October 2019
in “JAAD Case Reports”
TLDR Baricitinib helped a woman with severe hair loss regrow almost all her hair without side effects.
In a case report from 2019, a woman in her 60s with severe alopecia areata (AA), characterized by complete scalp and near-complete body hair loss, was treated with the Janus kinase (JAK) 1/2 inhibitor, baricitinib. Initially, she received 2 mg daily without hair regrowth after 4 months, but upon increasing the dose to 4 mg daily, she experienced 97% scalp hair regrowth after 8 months, as well as regrowth of eyebrows and eyelashes. After 13 months of treatment, no adverse effects were reported. This case is notable as it is the first report of a patient with AA successfully treated with baricitinib monotherapy. The case adds to the evidence supporting the efficacy of JAK inhibitors for AA and highlights the potential of baricitinib, a relatively new JAK1/2 inhibitor, in treating severe cases of AA.
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Cited in this study
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