Breakthrough drug restores more than 90% of lost hair in most patients

The cure for baldness may be already here ? for some people at least.

Columbia University Medical Center (CUMC) researchers published the results of a promising pilot trial in the Journal of Clinical Investigation/Insight this September. Twelve patients with moderate to severe baldness caused by alopecia areata (AA), an autoimmune disorder where the person?s own cells attack their hair follicles, were given the JAK inhibitor ruxolitinib. As with earlier animal and small human studies, the drug proved to be almost miraculous in its hair-raising powers in whih 75 percent of patients gained more than 90 percent of their lost hair back during the 3 to 6 months of treatment with the drug.

?Although our study was small, it provides crucial evidence that JAK inhibitors may constitute the first effective treatment for people with alopecia areata,? said the study′s lead author Dr. Julian Mackay-Wiggan, an associate professor and director of the clinical research unit in dermatology at CUMC as well as a dermatologist at New York-Presbyterian/Columbia, in a statement. ?This is encouraging news for patients who are coping with the physical and emotional effects of this disfiguring autoimmune disease.?

Encouraging as the results are, there are several substantial caveats to make clear. For one, the ?cure? was often temporary. Once people went off the drug, a third began to lose hair again, though not to the same degree as before. In a related study of another JAK inhibitor, tofacitinib, also published in theJournal of Clinical Investigation/Insight this month, was less successful both during and after the trial. Out of 66 subjects with various degrees of AA, including some who lost all hair along their bodies, 32 percent experienced 50 percent or greater improvement from the disease during treatment. But after 8.5 weeks off the drug, everyone had begun to lose some hair.

?Our findings suggest that initial treatment induces a high rate of disease remissions in patients with moderate to severe alopecia areata but maintenance therapy may be needed,? Mackay-Wiggan said.

And while both drugs were tolerated safely by patients with no severe side-effects, they did come with some milder ones. Namely, they weakened the immune system and made people more likely to become sick.

Unfortunately, the biggest sticking point to these treatments is that they may not do anything for the majority of hair loss sufferers. As mentioned earlier, AA, like rheumatoid arthritis, is an autoimmune disorder, which means the mechanism that causes baldness happens in these people is different than what causes the most common kind of baldness ? androgenic alopecia, or male and female pattern baldness. Despite the risk of hair loss post treatment, it would certainly be a great boon to the approximately four million people in America currently suffering from AA.

Along with finding ways to identify early on who will or won?t respond to the treatment, Mackay-Wiggan and her colleagues do plan to test out JAX inhibitors against androgenic alopecia as well as other hair loss conditions in the near future.

We expect JAK inhibitors to have widespread utility across many forms of hair loss based on their mechanism of action in both the hair follicle and immune cells,? said co-author Dr .Angela M. Christiano, a professor of genetics and development and dermatology at Columbia.

A relatively new class of drugs, JAK inhibitors have already been approved to treat bone marrow cancers and rheumatoid arthritis. Time will tell if they may also someday lead to the end of hair loss.

Most Read

★The health benefits of popular foods

★12 Benefits of Hair Spa Treatment

★Breathe Right to Live a Healthier and Better Life

★Top 10 Diet and Fitness Tips for Men

★Fruitylicious cure for ageing skin

★5 Yoga Poses that Can Give You a Glowing Skin

★Face Open Pores

★Cooking in aluminium pans may be dangerous for your health

★5 Hot Yoga Poses For Rapid Weight Loss

★How you should wash your face?

★Soda, pizza and salty food up liver disease in kids: Study

★Take care of your coloured hair with Wella

★9 Simple Yoga Asanas & Tips for Weight Loss

★5 surprising beauty benefits of amla

★8 Time-Saving Meal Prep Ideas Nutritionists Actually Use

★10 Healthy Twists on Classic Diner Dishes

★Top 10 Homemade Fruit Packs for Glowing Skin

★Haryana girl Nishtha Dudeja wins Miss Deaf Asia 2018 crown

★Making handloom accessible

★The amazing and healthy benefits of meditation!

★The Best Breakfast Foods for Weight Loss

★7 Filling Foods to Keep Belly Fat at Bay

★5 foods for healthy skin

★10 Most Effective Weight Loss Exercises For Torching Fat

★Whole-body vibration may be as effective as regular exercise

★4 Superfoods for a Healthy Looking Skin

★Wash Your Face with Oil

★Yoga Asanas To Prevent Hair Loss

★Top Fitness Stars Share Their Most Common Workout Habits

★Ideal exercises to keep your heart healthy

★Tips to Even your Skin Tone Naturally

★Why and how exercises reduce the risk of CANCER?

★6 Best Oils for a Naturally Clear and Glowing Skin

★10 Ways To Use Sesame Oil For Beautiful Skin

★Surgery addict rushed to hospital after his body REJECTED his new nose

★5 Tips to Take Care of Your Sensitive Skin

★Skin tone linked to fruit and vegetable consumption

★A platter full of seafood

★Heres why you should go sulphate-free with your hair care

★Dairy and vitamin D supplements protect against bone loss

★Top 10 Fruits To Eat To Lose Weight Quickly

★Yoga Poses for People with Less Flexible Body

★The Simple 20-Minute Habit That Could Save Your Life

★Skinny jeans and big fluffy hoods contribute to back pain

★Manage oily skin in winters with these steps

★Five-second rule for food dropped on the floor approved by germ scientists

★8 Fruits that Burn Fat: Include Them In Your Diet For Great Health Benefits

★Correlation Between Almonds and Weight Gain

★Losing Weight in Hot Weather Made Easy

★Try these 4 simple yoga asanas to gain weight


©2025 All rights reserved. shapesnfitness.com