Vitiligo: Do all conditions need medicine?

Vitiligo, a skin condition in which the immune system attacks a person’s pigmentation cells, is in the midst of an interesting biomedical debate. John Harris, director of the Vitiligo Clinic and Research Center at the University of Massachusetts, thinks he might have a potent treatment for the autoimmune condition. And he’s launched a startup, Villaris Therapeutics, with $18 million in its original financing round, to focus on treating vitiligo using an antibody therapy. 

But not everyone in the vitiligo community is on board. As a piece in Knowable Magazine points out, many folks with the condition say they’re in need of acceptance, not medicine. Harris once described vitiligo as “disfiguring.”

Michael Gilman, a biopharma vet who now heads up both Arrakis Therapeutics and Obsidian Therapeutics, opined on Twitter:

"As someone with alopecia, I get both sides of this story. Do I miss my hair? Every day. Do I believe it’s an autoimmune disease? Absolutely. Would I take a Jak inhibitor to alleviate it? Nope. It’s just hair."