'Breakthrough' drug to treat people with alopecia approved in US
The FDA approves a drug that targets a protein responsible for baldness in some people, and which reverses the severe loss of hair.
The long quest for a solution to baldness might be over soon, at least for some causes of hair loss. The US food and drug regulator, the Food and Drug Administration (FDA), has approved a potential new cure for people with extreme hair loss caused by the immune disorder alopecia areata, for which there are no other approved treatments available.
The drug - originally intended to treat osteoporosis - contains a compound that stimulates hair follicles to grow by targeting a protein that acts as a brake on hair growth and plays a role in baldness. It's shown "impressive" results for people affected by alopecia areata, a condition that leads to partial or complete hair loss. Many patients who took part in the trials, including children, said the cure has been a life changer according to Dr Brett King - a dermatologist in Connecticut who treats patients with hair loss.
鈥淭his was a clinical trial involving people with alopecia with an auto-immune form of hair loss. This is a truly historic moment... a truly monumental breakthrough. You have regrowth of hair, so it鈥檚 truly a transformative therapy.鈥�
(Pic: A woman with alopecia; Credit: Getty Images)
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