Delgocitinib cream lowered a key inflammation marker in FFA
Frontal fibrosing alopecia, or FFA, is a scarring form of hair loss. It mostly affects women around and after menopause. There is no approved treatment. JAK inhibitor pills may help, but they can carry risks. We tested whether a JAK inhibitor cream could act on the scalp with fewer risks.
Our lab ran this trial at Lahey with researchers at Mount Sinai. Thirty women with FFA were randomly assigned to delgocitinib cream or a cream with no drug. Neither patients nor investigators knew who got which. Each patient applied the cream twice a day for 12 weeks. Small skin biopsies measured inflammation genes before and after.
In skin treated with delgocitinib, a marker called CXCL9 dropped significantly. CXCL9 is tied to the immune pathway thought to drive FFA. The overall gene profile of treated skin improved by a small but significant 4%. Skin on the plain cream worsened by 33%. Side effects were mild, and none were serious.
This was a small, early trial. Gene testing stopped at week 12. The clinical measures were exploratory. All patients were women, and most were White. LEO Pharma funded the trial. Larger trials with longer follow up will need to confirm these results.
Martin A, Shokrian N, Kelley KJ, et al. Randomized controlled trial of the topical Jak inhibitor delgocitinib cream in patients with frontal fibrosing alopecia. J Invest Dermatol. 2026;146(5):1265-1270.e7. ClinicalTrials.gov NCT05332366.
