A report recently published in the October 2025 issue of JAMA Dermatology suggests that people with alopecia areata may still benefit from trying a different Janus kinase (JAK) inhibitor medication even if one—or several—others didn’t work. Researchers from Yale reviewed the cases of 13 people with severe alopecia areata who hadn’t seen hair regrowth results after at least six months on one or more JAK inhibitor treatments. Surprisingly, many of them did improve after switching to another drug in the same class, with some needing to try a third or even fourth option before finding one that worked. Most patients were also using oral minoxidil, and some received steroid injections alongside their JAK inhibitor therapy. In many cases, switches happened because their hair loss was getting worse rather than better. The authors note that the study is too small to say how often these medications fail or succeed overall, but the takeaway is encouraging: if one JAK inhibitor doesn’t work, another might. Medscape summarized the report’s findings here. Visit our Expectations of JAK Inhibitor Treatment for Alopecia Areata page to learn more about these treatments.
