Update: Listening to the webcast again (yes it is still available), Dr. Neal Walker clearly states that while systemic JAK inhibitors did not work for androgenetic alopecia, topical JAK inhibitors did work for androgenetic alopecia (and not just for alopecia areata)! This is huge. Thanks to commentator “Bob Ross’s Hair” for typing out the exact quote below for us:

“We will be developing a topical JAK inhibitor for androgenetic alopecia, and the data on that is quite interesting in that they found that the systemic JAK inhibitor does not work for that particular indication, but the topical does, mainly as a function of the target being more superficial in the skin and not really accessible from a systemic circulation.”

The important Jefferies 2016 Healthcare Conference is going on in New York City as I am writing this post. It started five minutes ago (12pm EST — aka NYC — time). The CEO of Aclaris Therapeutics, Dr. Neal Walker, is presenting. You can view it live via registering here. Or from here.

The best part is that 19 slides are already available to view at the top of the ongoing webcast, and Dr. Walker just mentioned that they are now more confident about JAK inhibiters and will be developing a topical version for androgenic alopecia!! One more small leap for “nasa_rs”, but will it finally translate into one giant leap for mankind?

Slide numbers 16 and 17 mention androgenic alopecia. The key March 2016 acquisition of and partnership with Dr. Angela Christiano’s Vixen Pharmaceuticals (Columbia University IP) is what seems to have spurred the optimism behind developing and testing topical JAK inhibitors on androgenic alopecia patients. Slide 16 also mentions that they are working on next generation JAK inhibitors called “covalently bound highly selective JAK3 inhibitors.”

Note that those slides and the audio webcast presentation are both supposed to soon be available on Aclaris’ website, but will only remain there for several weeks.