Skip to main page content
U.S. flag

An official website of the United States government

Dot gov

The .gov means it’s official.
Federal government websites often end in .gov or .mil. Before sharing sensitive information, make sure you’re on a federal government site.

Https

The site is secure.
The https:// ensures that you are connecting to the official website and that any information you provide is encrypted and transmitted securely.

Access keys NCBI Homepage MyNCBI Homepage Main Content Main Navigation
. 2023 Oct;15(14):1093-1103.
doi: 10.2217/imt-2023-0069. Epub 2023 Jul 5.

A plain language summary on ritlecitinib treatment for adults and adolescents with alopecia areata

Brett King  1 , Xingqi Zhang  2 , Walter Gubelin Harcha  3 , Jacek C Szepietowski  4 , Jerry Shapiro  5 , Charles Lynde  6 , Natasha A Mesinkovska  7 , Samuel H Zwillich  8 , Lynne Napatalung  9   10 , Dalia Wajsbrot  9 , Rana Fayyad  9 , Amy Freyman  9 , Debanjali Mitra  9 , Vivek Purohit  9 , Rodney Sinclair  11 , Robert Wolk  8
Affiliations
Free article

A plain language summary on ritlecitinib treatment for adults and adolescents with alopecia areata

Brett King et al. Immunotherapy. 2023 Oct.
Free article

Abstract

What is this summary about?: This is a summary of the results of the ALLEGRO phase 2b/3 clinical trial, originally published in The Lancet. ALLEGRO-2b/3 looked at how well and safely the study medicine, ritlecitinib, works in treating people with alopecia areata ('AA' for short). The immune system protects your body from outside invaders such as bacteria and viruses. AA is an autoimmune disease, meaning a disease in which one's immune system attacks healthy cells of the body by mistake. In AA, the immune system attacks hair follicles, causing hair to fall out. AA causes hair loss ranging from small bald patches to complete hair loss on the scalp, face, and/or body. Ritlecitinib is a medicine taken as a pill every day, by mouth, that is approved for the treatment of severe AA. It blocks processes that are known to play a role in causing hair loss in patients with AA.

What were the results of the study?: Adults and adolescents (12 years and older) took part in the ALLEGRO-2b/3 study. They either took ritlecitinib for 48 weeks or took a placebo (a pill with no medicine) for 24 weeks. Participants taking placebo later switched to taking ritlecitinib for 24 weeks. The study showed that participants taking ritlecitinib had more hair regrowth on their scalp after 24 weeks than those taking the placebo. Hair regrowth was also seen on the eyebrows and eyelashes in participants taking ritlecitinib. Hair regrowth continued to improve to week 48 with continued ritlecitinib treatment. In addition, more participants taking ritlecitinib reported that their AA had 'moderately' or 'greatly' improved after 24 weeks than those taking the placebo. Similar numbers of participants taking ritlecitinib or placebo had side effects after 24 weeks. Most side effects were mild or moderate.

What do the results of the study mean?: Ritlecitinib was an effective and well-tolerated treatment over 48 weeks for people with AA. Clinical Trial Registration: NCT03732807 (phase 2b/3 ALLEGRO study).

Keywords: adolescents; alopecia areata; hair loss; ritlecitinib.

PubMed Disclaimer

Similar articles

See all similar articles

Cited by

Publication types

Supplementary concepts

Associated data