Drugs commonly used in rheumatology, the JAK inhibitors, are opening up treatment options for people with autoimmune-driven hair loss, and new mechanistic knowledge is also helping scientists tackle androgenic alopecia, the commonest cause of baldness.
Two targeted drugs are now approved to treat the severe and disfiguring hair loss condition alopecia areata. In June, the US Food and Drug Administration gave Pfizer’s Litfulo a green light for use in people. The other therapy, Eli Lilly’s, originally approved to treat rheumatoid arthritis, gained FDA go ahead for alopecia areata in 2022.
Fast forward to August 2023, and a third JAK inhibitor is in late-stage development. Deuruxolitinib is a deuterium-modified analogue of the JAK1/2 inhibitor Jakafi , a small molecule developed by Sun Pharma that has completed, collectively known as scarring alopecias. These alopecias have some autoimmune component, but, unlike in alopecia areata, the growth-regulating stem cell compartment of the hair follicle is damaged.
Interferon-γ production in the hair follicle is also driven by other cytokines. Equillium is testing EQ101, a peptide that inhibits IL-2, IL-9 and IL-15 by binding to their shared receptor. The compound, acquired from Equillium’s buyout of Bioniz Therapeutics, is in Stem cell-based therapies are an evolving area of research in androgenic alopecia. These use either re-educated adipose-derived stem cells or hair follicle-derived stem cells to rejuvenate the hair follicle. Current preclinical players include Stemson Therapeutics, dNovo and Epibiotech. RepliCel Life Sciences’ cell therapy RCH01 is in a phase 3 trial in partnership with Shiseido in Japan.
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