A new trial has shown promising results – in some cases
Those suffering from a very specific type of hair loss may be in luck – an American pharmaceutical company claims to have developed a new twice-a-day pill that has been proven to show promising regrowth results.
After concluding a recent trial, Concert Pharmaceuticals revealed that four in 10 patients that suffer with alopecia areata were actually able to regrow a full head of hair within six months.
You may already be a little familiar with the medical condition known as alopecia thanks to Will Smith and an Oscars slap heard around the world – but what does it actually entail?
Despite being the recognised term for general hair loss and typical male pattern baldness, alopecia is an autoimmune disease that causes your hair to fall out all over your body. This new drug regiment specifically targets alopecia areata – a condition where the body actually attacks its own hair follicles.
While these initial trial results are indeed promising, they unfortunately won’t please everyone – with scientists involved with the study confirming that their new drug is ineffective against the millions of men who lose their hair simply as a by-product of ageing.
The company’s trial involved a “randomised, double-blind, placebo-controlled clinical trial” in 706 adult patients aged between 18 and 65. Each had symptoms of alopecia areata that ranged from moderate to severe and were split into three groups that were each given a placebo, an 8mg version of the drug and a 12mg version of the drug to take twice daily.
When the study concluded, experts found that those who had taken the 8mg and 12mg pills saw a “statistically significant” hair regrowth.
“Today marks an important milestone in advancing new treatments for alopecia areata, and I’m so happy to see such positive results from the first Phase 3 trial with CTP-543,” explained Brett King M.D, a clinical investigator at the Department of Dermatology, Yale University School of Medicine.
“There is a great need for treatments for this challenging disease, and the results from the THRIVE-AA1 trial suggest that CTP-543 may potentially provide an important therapy for treating alopecia areata.”
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