Clinical Efficacy and Safety of Baricitinib in Patients With Alopecia Areata in Korea.

BACKGROUND

Baricitinib is an oral Janus kinase 1 and 2 inhibitor that has shown significant efficacy in phase 3 trials for alopecia areata (AA). However, real-world data on its use for AA remain limited.

OBJECTIVE

This study evaluated the efficacy and safety of baricitinib in Korean patients with AA.

METHODS

In this retrospective multicenter study, 117 patients with AA received oral baricitinib 4 mg daily for at least 36 weeks. Patient demographics, Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) scores, and adverse events were assessed.

RESULTS

SALT scores significantly decreased from baseline at all time points (p<0.001). By week 36, 55.4% of patients with a baseline SALT score >50 and 48.9% with a baseline score >95 achieved a SALT score of 20 or less. Notably, in Group A (baseline SALT score between 50 and 100) by week 36, the percentages for SALT 75, SALT 90, and SALT 100 were 52.0%, 44.0%, and 22.7%, respectively, while in Group B (baseline SALT score ≤50), the percentages were 81.0%, 66.7%, and 54.8%, respectively. Group B showed a significantly greater mean percentage improvement in SALT scores compared to Group A (p<0.001, Welch's t-test). Repeated measures analysis of variance further revealed that both group and time had significant effects on treatment response (p<0.001). Adverse reactions were mostly mild to moderate in severity and resolved with appropriate management.

CONCLUSION

Baricitinib was well tolerated and resulted in clinical improvement among patients with AA in a real-world clinical setting. Baricitinib is a potential treatment option for patients with treatment-resistant AA.