Thanks to Will Smith and the Oscars everyone knows about alopecia now
And major sponsor Pfizer has a drug called ritlecitinib that may help...
The world keeps getting stranger and stranger. I only just recently learned that Pfizer was a major sponsor of this year’s Oscars. You can read about that here:
Pfizer and BioNTech go to Hollywood with splashy Oscars sponsorship
This year’s Oscars will forever be known for Will Smith’s slap of Chris Rock, after the comedian and actor made a joke about Jada Pinkett Smith’s bald head. The crack about GI Jane was followed by Will Smith confronting Rock on stage and giving him an open handed slap to the face. Next came loud denounciations from his seat telling the comedian to keep his wife’s name out of things.
You knew all that.
I didn’t watch the Oscars, so I wasn’t aware that Pfizer was a major sponsor, nor did I care. Interestingly the joke that has everyone talking centered on Jada Pinkett Smith’s medical condition, specifically a disease called alopecia which can lead to hair loss.
Although I didn’t know the name of the condition before, I was aware of it. My wife has a cousin who suffers from it, and I knew a woman from years back who also suffered from it. Charlie Villanueva, formerly of the Toronto Raptors is another notable name. But prior to the Oscars I, like many people in all likelihood, just knew it as ‘that disease that causes a person to lose their hair’.
And now the fun part.
Pfizer has a late stage drug called ritlecitinib that should be up for FDA approval in the very near future. You can read about that here:
Pfizer's ritlecitinib hits goal in alopecia phase 3
Coincidence is the starting point of all conspiracy theories, and obviously both Will Smith and Chris Rock are actors. Will Smith can now lay claim to being an Oscar winner. The question is, was the Oscar for his role in “King Richard” or should it be for raising the profile of a disease that Oscar sponsor Pfizer will likely soon have a drug for?