Eli Lilly and Company and Incyte announced that the European Medicines Agency's (EMA) Committee for Medicinal Products for Human Use (CHMP) has issued a positive opinion for OLUMIANT® (baricitinib) for the treatment of adults with severe alopecia areata (AA). This opinion marks the first step toward European regulatory approval of OLUMIANT for patients with severe AA, and it is now referred to the European Commission for final action. If approved, OLUMIANT would be the first centrally-authorized oral treatment and first JAK inhibitor for patients with severe AA in the European Union.

The European Commission's decision is expected in the next one to two months. The positive opinion was based on Lilly's Phase 3 BRAVE-AA1 and BRAVE-AA2 trials evaluating the efficacy and safety of OLUMIANT in 1,200 patients with severe AA, the largest Phase 3 clinical trial program with completed primary endpoints. Severe AA was defined as having a Severity of Alopecia Tool (SALT) score =50 (=50% scalp hair loss).

The primary endpoint was the proportion of patients achieving SALT =20 (i.e., 80% or more scalp hair coverage) at Week 36. Across both studies, 1 out of 3 patients treated with OLUMIANT 4-mg acchieved 80% or more scalp hair coverage (BRAVE-AA1=35.2% [n=99]; BRAVE-AA2=32.5% [n=76]), compared to 1 out of 20 patients (5.3%, n=10) and 1 out of 50 patients (2.6%, n=4) taking placebo in BRAVE-AA1 and BRAVE-AA2, respectively (p=0.001 for all comparisons to placebo). Achievement of full regrowth or regrowth with minimal gaps in eyebrow and eyelash hair was also seen at 36 weeks with OLUMIANT 4-mg for 1 in 3 patients who at baseline had significant gaps or no notable eyebrows or eyelashes, as compared to patients taking placebo (BRAVE-AA1: 4-mg dose: eyebrow=31.4% [n=59]; eyelash=33.5% [n=56]; placebo: eyebrow=3.2% [n=4]; eyelash=3.1% [n=3]; BRAVE-AA2: 4-mg dose: eyebrow=34.8% [n=56]; eyelash=34.3% [n=48]; placebo: eyebrow=4.5% [n=5]; eyelash=5.6% [n=5]; p=0.001 for all comparisons to placebo).

Eyebrow and eyelash hair loss was evaluated using the Clinician-Reported Outcome (ClinRO) Measure for Eyebrow Hair Loss™ and ClinRO Measure for Eyelash Hair Loss™ – novel, clinically-validated tools developed by Lilly. The Phase 3 BRAVE-AA clinical program also evaluated the safety profile of OLUMIANT, and no new safety signals were observed. Few patients discontinued treatment due to adverse events (2.6% or less across both studies), and the majority of treatment-emergent adverse events were mild or moderate in severity.