Doctors may have found the cure for alopecia-related baldness in cancer drug ruxolitinib.

Alopecia Baldness Cure Found?

Alopecia, a relatively common autoimmune disease, causes partial to total hair loss, which could possibly be counteracted by ruxolitinib, reported the UK's Mirror. Over the course of five months, a study showed ruxolitinib completely restored the hair-loss of the three patients who participated in the trial.

“We’ve only begun testing the drug in patients, but if the drug continues to be successful and safe, it will have a dramatic positive impact on the lives of people with this disease,” said lead researcher Dr. Raphael Clynes.

“We still need to do more testing to establish that ruxolitinib should be used in alopecia areata, but this is exciting news for patients and their physicians,” Dr. Clynes added. “This disease has been completely understudied – until now, only two small clinical trials evaluating targeted therapies in alopecia areata have been performed.”

FDA-Approved Drug Restores Hair in Patients with Alopecia Areata from ColumbiaNews on Vimeo.

The three patients that participated in Clynes’ pilot trial at the Columbia University Medical Center in New York all had moderate to severe alopecia areta. Their treatment included 20-milligram doses of ruxolitinib twice a day. The drug ruxolitinib is thought to combat the T-cell immune cells that destroy the hair follicles of alopecia sufferers.