MONDAY, March 18, 2024 (HealthDay News) — Continuous treatment with baricitinib in patients with severe alopecia areata demonstrates improvement in hair regrowth outcomes through 76 weeks of follow-up, according to a study presented at the annual meeting of the American Academy of Dermatology, held from March 8 to 12 in San Diego.
Rodney D. Sinclair, M.D., from the University of Melbourne in Australia, and colleagues evaluated pooled data from the BRAVE-AA1/AA2 studies to determine longer-term outcomes at 76 weeks for all patients eligible to continue baricitinib 4 mg. Nonresponders at week 52 (those with a Severity of Alopecia Tool [SALT] score >20 without significant eyebrow or eyelash improvement) discontinued baricitinib per study protocol. The analysis at week 76 included three patient groups: responders (those who achieved a SALT score ≤20 at week 52) who continued baricitinib 4 mg, responders who were re-randomly assigned into down-titration or withdrawal arms, and mixed responders (those with significant eyebrow or eyelash regrowth by week 52 or an unsustained SALT score ≤20 before week 52) who continued on baricitinib 4 mg.
The researchers found that at week 52, 44.5 percent of all baricitinib-treated patients achieved SALT ≤20, and the proportion of responders and mixed responders achieving SALT ≤20 increased to 75.8 percent at week 76. An increase was also seen in the proportion of patients achieving a Clinician-Reported Outcome score 0/1 (full hair or minimal loss for eyebrows and eyelashes), from 49.5 percent at week 52 to 80.0 percent at week 76 for eyebrows and from 49.6 to 77.0 percent for eyelashes.
“Among patients receiving continuous baricitinib treatment, improvement in hair regrowth outcomes continued with higher proportions of patients achieving meaningful scalp hair, eyebrow, and eyelash regrowth over 76 weeks,” the authors write.
The BRAVE-AA1 and BRAVE-AA2 studies were sponsored by Eli Lilly, the manufacturer of baricitinib.
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