Active ritlecitinib may improve hair growth in patients with alopecia areata: Study

A new study published in the journal of Dermatology suggests that the Alopecia areata patients who were receiving doses of active ritlecitinib reported better outcomes in terms of satisfaction with hair growth. Alopecia areata (AA) is an autoimmune illness that mostly affects the face, scalp, and/or body. One or more patches of hair loss, total scalp hair loss, or total loss of body, face, and scalp hair can all occur. In the USA, Japan, EU, China, and numerous other countries, ritlecitinib which is a selective dual inhibitor of JAK3 and all 5 TEC family kinases, is licensed for use in treating adult and adolescent patients with severe AA who are between the ages of 12 and 17. Thus, this study by Rodney Sinclair and colleagues measured the level of patient happiness with hair growth in patients with AA who were either given ritlecitinib or a placebo, as well as the relationship between patient satisfaction and clinician-assessed effectiveness.

The patients with AA with ≥50% scalp hair loss were randomized in the ALLEGRO-2b/3 study to receive daily ritlecitinib or placebo for 24 weeks, followed by a 24-week extension during which they may continue receiving ritlecitinib or shift from placebo to ritlecitinib. 3 categories like the quantity, quality, and overall satisfaction with hair growth were assessed using the Patient Satisfaction with Hair Growth (P-Sat) measure. A number of post hoc studies determined polyserial correlations between modifications from baseline (CFB) in Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) and P-Sat ratings at weeks 24 and 48, as well as the percentage of patients who were moderately/very happy and moderately/very dissatisfied.

By week 24, the percentage of patients who were satisfied with their hair growth overall varied between the ritlecitinib 10-mg and 200/50-mg groups (36.4%) and the placebo groups (22.6%). At week 48, the percentage of satisfied patients in the ritlecitinib-randomized group either rose or remained stable. When switching from a placebo to ritlecitinib, a significantly higher percentage of patients expressed satisfaction at week 48 when compared to week 24. The advantage of ritlecitinib was also observed in the post hoc analysis that defined satisfaction as moderately/very satisfied and unhappiness as moderately/very unhappy. At weeks 24 and 48, there was a substantial correlation between all P-Sat domain scores and CFB-SALT scores. Overall, Ritlecitinib should be explored in patients with 50% or more hair loss due to alopecia areata, since satisfaction levels remained stable 48 weeks following therapy commencement.

Source:

Sinclair, R., Law, E. H., Zhang, X., Zhang, F., Napatalung, L., Zwillich, S. H., King, B., & Mesinkovska, N. (2024). Patient-Reported Satisfaction with Hair Regrowth in a Study of Ritlecitinib in Alopecia Areata: Results from ALLEGRO-2b/3. In Dermatology (pp. 1–11). S. Karger AG. https://doi.org/10.1159/000539536