Patients will often ask me if there are any studies or news about studies they may have taken part in. The pace of research can seem very slow.
Many of my patients will have taken part in the Frontal Fibrosing Alopecia research looking at the potential genetic susceptibility to getting this condition. Nearly 900 patients have taken part with several thousand age and sex match controls. This research has been completed and the findings have been written up and are about to be submitted to a peer reviewed journal. I can’t discuss any of the findings just yet but it should be in print in the next few months and there will be plain language summary that we will be able to share with all the patients who took part.
Many of my patients and colleagues were very disappointed that the UK was not included as a site for a JAK inhibitor study last year. There has been a recent expression of interest by Pfizer for another phase 2 JAK inhibitor study aimed at severe Alopecia Areata, more than 50% loss, which we are hopeful will start recruiting in the Autumn 2018. The UK sites have not yet been confirmed and the company are only looking to recruit 20 patients from the UK but it is encouraging that more studies are taking place.