Add on phototherapy to ritlecitinib Boosts Vitiligo Treatment Response and Patient Satisfaction: Study
Researchers have found in an exploratory phase IIb study that adding twice-weekly narrowband UVB phototherapy to oral ritlecitinib (Litfulo) improved repigmentation outcomes in patients with nonsegmental vitiligo compared to ritlecitinib alone. The combination therapy was well-tolerated with no new safety concerns, and patient satisfaction nearly doubled with the dual approach.
Ritlecitinib, an oral selective dual JAK3/TEC family kinase inhibitor, was evaluated for its efficacy and safety in adolescents and adults with alopecia areata in a large, randomized, double-blind, multicentre phase 2b–3 clinical trial. Conducted across 118 sites in 18 countries, the study included patients aged 12 years and older with at least 50% scalp hair loss. Participants were randomly assigned to various dosing regimens of ritlecitinib or placebo over a 24-week treatment period, followed by a 24-week extension during which those initially on placebo were switched to ritlecitinib.
The trial demonstrated that ritlecitinib led to meaningful clinical improvement in hair regrowth as measured by the Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score. The most substantial improvements were observed in the higher-dose treatment groups, and notably, few patients in the placebo group showed any response. The treatment was generally well tolerated, with adverse events reported at similar frequencies across all treatment groups, and no deaths occurred during the study.
These results support the potential of ritlecitinib as an effective and tolerable treatment option for alopecia areata in patients eligible for systemic therapy.
Reference:
King, B., Zhang, X., Harcha, W. G., Szepietowski, J. C., Shapiro, J., Lynde, C., Mesinkovska, N. A., Zwillich, S. H., Napatalung, L., Wajsbrot, D., Fayyad, R., Freyman, A., Mitra, D., Purohit, V., Sinclair, R., & Wolk, R. (2023). Efficacy and safety of ritlecitinib in adults and adolescents with alopecia areata: a randomised, double-blind, multicentre, phase 2b–3 trial. The Lancet, 401(10392), 1928. https://doi.org/10.1016/S0140-6736(23)00222-2
