Upcoming Studies on Dupilumab for Alopecia Areata

Two studies will explore the effectiveness and safety of dupilumab (Dupixent) in patients with alopecia areata.

In this exclusive MedPage Today video, Emma Guttman, MD, chair of dermatology at Mount Sinai’s Icahn School of Medicine in New York City, and a pioneer of the clinical trials on dupilumab, describes the upcoming studies.

Following is a transcript of her remarks:

We did a lot of studies showing that alopecia areata and atopic dermatitis, or eczema, are diseases that are linked, and we now are hoping to start in 2024 a study in children that will be treated with dupilumab, or Dupixent. Children with alopecia, we are very excited about that. The study will be open to children between 6 to 17 that have either some allergy or atopy — either themselves or in the family — or they have a high IgE. We are very excited about the study and we got a very good score and we are hoping to get the study started after the new year.

We also are working on an adult study for alopecia areata, also with dupilumab, in also patients that have either atopy, personal or familial, or high IgE.

And those studies resulted from quite some studies from our group that showed the commonality between patients with eczema and alopecia and showing that patients with alopecia also have increased type 2 immunity. And showing that when you decrease type 2 immunity you can grow hair.

And we showed it already in one study, and we showed that the population that grew better hair was the one population that has additional atopy or high [IgE].

So we are very excited about that because it opens another avenue to treat those patients that have more than one disease or that are prone to atopy.

We need to remember, while JAK [Janus kinase] inhibitors are great, they have a black box warning. And for some patients, not every patient will agree to that. Because the moment patients stop the treatment, the hair is falling. So with JAK inhibitors, they will need to take the treatment for life, and not everybody wants to do that. So I think it opens another possibility for those that don’t want JAK inhibitors or cannot have a JAK inhibitor, or many reasons.

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