Povorcitinib shows dose-dependent efficacy in hidradenitis suppurativa
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MILAN — Higher doses of povorcitinib were more efficacious in the treatment of hidradenitis suppurativa compared with lower doses, according to a poster presented at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology Congress.
“This is a really fun study because it’s starting to look at the [Janus kinase (JAK)] inhibitors and especially the selective JAK inhibitors,” Joslyn S. Kirby, MD, MS, MEd, associate professor of dermatology at Penn State Health, told Healio. “Povorcitinib (INCB054707) is a selective JAK1 and this is an early phase 2 study looking at a couple different doses of this medicine.”
In this dose-ranging study, Kirby and colleagues included 209 patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) who were randomly assigned to receive 15 mg, 45 mg or 75 mg doses of povorcitinib or placebo once daily for 16 weeks.
Abscess and inflammatory lesion count was significantly reduced in the treatment groups, with the higher doses showing greater reductions. The mean decrease from baseline in the 15 mg group was –5.2, whereas the 45 mg group had a mean reduction of –6.9 and the 75 mg group had a mean reduction of –6.3. The placebo group saw a mean reduction of –2.5.
Dose dependent decreases in International Hidradenitis Suppurativa Severity Score (IHS4) were also observed. The mean decrease in the 15 mg, 45 mg and 75 mg dose groups was –5.6, –11 and –12.1, respectively, compared with –3.1 in the placebo group.
“I think this confirms for us that probably higher doses are needed, just like anything needed for HS. It was really nice response and I’m curious if we are actually going to see even better from JAK inhibitors with high scores of 75 or even 90,” Kirby said. “The high score of 50% might not sound like a great response, but when I’m seeing these patients in the clinical trial visits, it blows me away just how well they do. I would be very excited to see more from povorcitinib and other JAK inhibitors.”
Adverse events occurred in 65.4% of the placebo group and 60% of the treatment groups, with serious AEs occurring in 5.8% of placebo-treated patients and 3.2% of povorcitinib-treated patients.
The most common treatment-related AEs were fatigue, acne and headache.