FDA Approved Arthritis Drug Spurs Hair Growth in Those With Alopecia Totalis

Researchers have found a novel treatment for those suffering from a rare disease in which patients aged 25 years suffer from loss of all head and facial hair.

Alopecia Totalis is a rare and visible disease in which those of 25 years of age lose all head and facial hair. Alhough the cause is not fully known, researchers believe it is an auto-immune disorder. Those with Alopecia Totalis have eyebrows, eyelashes as well facial, armpit and other hair, but not head hair.  For the first time, researchers at the Yale University have managed to discover a novel treatment.

"The results are exactly what we hoped for," said Brett A. King, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology at the Yale University School of Medicine and senior author of a paper. "This is a huge step forward in the treatment of patients with this condition. While it's one case, we anticipated the successful treatment of this man based on our current understanding of the disease and the drug. We believe the same results will be duplicated in other patients, and we plan to try."

The study focuses on the patient who was earlier diagnosed with both alopecia universalis, the disease that leads to complete hair loss all over body as well as plaque psoriasis, a condition that is known for its scaly red areas of skin.  The only portion on the head that had hair was within the psoriasis plaques. Although the patient was treated for psoriasis, he was not treated for alopecia universalis.

But, King believed that both the diseases can be treated effectively by using an existing drug approved by the U.S. Food and Drug Administration to treat rheumatoid arthritis called tofacitinib citrate. This drug successfully treats psoriasis in humans and also helps in reversing alopecia areata, a less extreme form of alopecia in mice models.

"There are no good options for long-term treatment of alopecia universalis," said King, a clinician interested in the treatment of rare but devastating skin diseases. "The best available science suggested this might work, and it has."

Taking 10mg of tofacitinib daily for two months, there was improvement in psoriasis and the patient had even grown scalp as well as facial hair.   After going through three of therapy with 15mg daily, the patient had hair regrown in the scalp and had visible eyebrows, eyelashes as well as facial hair, armpit and other hair. Surprisingly there were no side effects and abnormalities reported.

The drug is known to switch off immune system's attack on hair follicles that is known to trigger the disease. 

The finding appears in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology.