America approves the first drug to treat hair loss caused by “alopecia”

For the first time, America has provided a treatment option for people who suffer from a rare autoimmune disorder that causes their hair to fall out suddenly.
Last Monday, the US Food and Drug Administration approved Baricitinib, a once-daily pill developed by Eli Lilly, to treat alopecia areata, an autoimmune disease that causes sudden hair loss.
Baricitinib helps regrow hair by preventing the body’s immune system from attacking the hair follicles.
Two Phase III clinical trials involving a total of 1,200 patients with severe alopecia areata found that about 40 percent of people who received a daily 4 milligram dose of the drug had their hair completely re-growth, or nearly after 36 weeks.
The drug was originally approved by the US Food and Drug Administration in 2018 to treat rheumatoid arthritis, according to NBC.
Baricitinib is part of a class of drugs known as JAK inhibitors and is the first approved treatment in America for alopecia areata, which affects more than 300,000 people in the country each year, according to the Food and Drug Administration.
People with an autoimmune disease can experience hair loss anywhere on their body, including around the scalp, eyebrows, and eyelashes, according to the American Academy of Dermatology, and the condition can develop at any age, although most people get infected. It occurs during childhood or during the teenage years.