Trial points to an alopecia treatment

Embargoed until: Publicly released: 2026-08-13 01:00

Australia; International; VIC

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Two new trials have shown that a drug called upadacitinib was able to restore scalp hair better than a placebo in people with alopecia areata, a chronic immune disease that causes hair loss. The study, which included Australian researchers, found that people taking the drug were able to achieve at least 80% coverage of their scalp with hair in about 45-55% of cases, compared to just 1.5-3.4% with placebo. The study did not find any new safety concerns with the drug, which is already used for several inflammatory conditions.

News release

From: JAMA

Upadacitinib for Severe Alopecia Areata in Adults and Adolescents

In these 2 parallel phase 3 replicate randomized clinical trials, upadacitinib demonstrated a positive benefit-risk profile in adults and adolescents with severe AA. Upadacitinib may be a potentially effective treatment option for this patient population.

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Journal/
conference: JAMA Dermatology

Research:Paper

Organisation/s: The University of Melbourne, Brigham and Women’s Hospital, USA

Funder: AbbVie funded the research for this study. See paper for author conflicts of interest

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