WALTHAM, Mass.--(BUSINESS WIRE)--Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc., the world leader in serving science, today announced the launch of the international CorEvitas Adolescent Alopecia Areata (AA) Registry, addressing a critical unmet need for real-world, adolescent-specific evidence and data related to this autoimmune disease, which causes patchy or complete hair loss on the scalp and other areas of the body. Data collected will enable research to help better understand the burden of disease for AA patients, as well as the real-world effectiveness and safety of newly approved treatments.
The registry is now active in both Europe and the U.S., with the first patient recently enrolled in Europe and the first patient in North America enrolled in late 2024. This is the 12th independent registry from CorEvitas, part of the PPD™ clinical research business of Thermo Fisher Scientific. It complements an existing CorEvitas registry focused on AA in adults, launched in 2023. The adolescent AA registry was launched under the scientific guidance of Britt Craiglow, M.D., associate professor adjunct, dermatology, Yale School of Medicine; Maryanne Senna, M.D., assistant professor of dermatology, Harvard Medical School; and Brett King, M.D., Ph.D., Dermatology Physicians of Connecticut, as scientific advisors to the registry.
The registry is designed to prospectively study alopecia areata, including the incidence of safety events of interest, medication utilization patterns and the comparative safety and effectiveness of treatments. It will also gather data on the history of AA in adolescents and the growth and development over time of adolescent AA patients undergoing treatment with new therapies.
AA is estimated to affect about 2% of the population, or about 160 million people globally. It affects people of all ages, but the prevalence may be higher in children compared to adults, with many patients experiencing their first hair loss episode during adolescence or before. In addition to hair loss, patients can experience nail pitting. The negative impact of AA on psychosocial functioning may be significant. Diseases such as asthma and atopic dermatitis occur more frequently in people who have AA and, in general, patients with AA have a higher risk of developing other autoimmune diseases.
Experiencing hair loss can be especially difficult at a young age, when many adolescents are self-conscious about their appearance and eager to fit in with peers. Some AA patients even disengage in school and extracurriculars, which can be detrimental to development and mental health.
“This first-of-its-kind registry will provide researchers with real-world, concrete evidence about the health status and treatment patterns of these patients,” said Peter Wahl, Sc.D., Global Head of Scientific Affairs, CorEvitas clinical research, Thermo Fisher Scientific. “The research community will be able to contextualize both the effectiveness and safety of newly approved treatments for adolescents with AA.”
CorEvitas services include proprietary autoimmune and inflammatory disease registries collecting and offering structured, regulatory-grade patient clinical data and pharmacovigilance services spanning over 500 investigator sites and over 100,000 patients followed longitudinally. The CorEvitas independent registry model has been accepted by regulators for long-term post-authorization safety studies across a variety of disease indications.
To learn more about this study and the newly launched registry, request information at alopecia@corevitas.com (U.S. and Canada) or alopecia.adol@corevitas.com (EU).
About Thermo Fisher Scientific
Thermo Fisher Scientific Inc. is the world leader in serving science, with annual revenue over $40 billion. Our Mission is to enable our customers to make the world healthier, cleaner and safer. Whether our customers are accelerating life sciences research, solving complex analytical challenges, increasing productivity in their laboratories, improving patient health through diagnostics or the development and manufacture of life-changing therapies, we are here to support them. Our global team delivers an unrivaled combination of innovative technologies, purchasing convenience and pharmaceutical services through our industry-leading brands, including Thermo Scientific, Applied Biosystems, Invitrogen, Fisher Scientific, Unity Lab Services, Patheon and PPD. For more information, please visit www.thermofisher.com.
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