Despite the dearth of medications available to treat psoriasis - a disease with similar prevalence numbers and impact on quality of life - vitiligo has no known cure or specific treatments. Few therapies can reduce or stop vitiligo symptoms for prolonged periods of time, but no single treatment works for everyone. Worse, not all of these medicines have been approved in all countries.

Since the average cost of single drug development reached $5.5 billion in late 2013, Big Pharma have little interest in developing drugs for “neglected diseases”, including vitiligo.

While efficient vitiligo treatments would clearly be in demand if available, there is little public demand for the development of such treatments. This paradox arises from the non-life-threatening nature of vitiligo and widespread awareness of it's perceived incurable nature, thus lowering the expressed demand for treatment development. 

However, new clinical trials have been launched by major pharma companies in early 2016, indicating a global change in the area of vitiligo.