Dupixent, an FDA-approved eczema drug, causes hair regrowth in people with alopecia

An FDA-approved drug, used to treat eczema, has resulted in hair regrowth in a teenager with alopecia. This unexpected side effect is thought to be the first of its kind – and researchers are now hoping to study the potential of this drug to treat other people suffering from hair loss.

Writing their case report in the newspaper JAMA Dermatology, the team reported treating a 13-year-old patient for total alopecia. This is the total loss of hair on the scalp – the patient had not grown on the scalp since the age of two.

According to the US Government's website on rare diseases, the cause of the disease is unknown. It is often thought to be an autoimmune disease, the immune system of the body attacking hair follicles by mistake.

The patient also suffered from eczema, a condition of the skin with which she had been living since the age of seven months. As a result, doctors began treating her with dupilumab, an FDA-approved treatment for moderate-to-severe eczema, commonly known as the Dupixent brand. Shortly after, the patient presented significant hair regrowth.

After six weeks, she noticed beautiful light hair appearing on her head. After seven months, she had a significant amount of pigmented hair regrowth.

Fine, light hairs, called vellus hairs, appear on the scalp of a patient with total alopecia six weeks after the start of treatment with dupilumab for the treatment of her eczema. With the kind permission of JAMA Network.

The lead author, Maryanne Makredes Senna, of the Department of Dermatology at Massachusetts General Hospital, said she was "quite surprised" with the result. "As far as we know, this is the first case of hair regrowth caused by dupilumab in a patient with any degree of alopecia areata," she said in a statement.

When the patient stopped taking dupilumab, she started losing her hair. When she started taking it again, he went back up.

Senna thinks that dupilumab could target an overactive immune system pathway in patients with eczema. "At present, it's unclear whether dupilumab could induce hair growth in other patients with alopecia, but I guess it might be helpful in patients with extensive active eczema and active alopecia, "she said. "We have submitted a proposal for a clinical trial using dupilumab in this patient population and hope to be able to study it further in the near future."

In the United States, an estimated 6.5 million people live with a form of alopecia. Dupilumab should not be taken without medical authorization. Adverse effects include oral herpes, conjunctivitis and upper respiratory tract infections.

Previously, tofacitinib citrate, a medicine against arthritis, was found to successfully treat male men's alopecia, a hair loss throughout the body. In a study published in the Journal of Investigative Dermatology, Yale researchers said they expected to see the same results on other patients with alopecia. Additional research is still in the early stages – and, as Belgravia Center warns, tofacitinib citrate can cause serious side effects, including tuberculosis and cancer.