52-week data shows vitiligo improvement with povorcitinib
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Key takeaways:
- Povorcitinib 45 mg and 75 mg both showed improvement in vitiligo over a 52-week study.
- Patients treated continuously with 75 mg experienced the greatest improvement in T-VASI.
Patients with vitiligo treated with oral povorcitinib showed significant repigmentation of the face and body, Incyte announced in a press release.
Results from a 52-week, double-blind, placebo-controlled, dose-ranging phase 2b trial of the Janus kinase 1 inhibitor were discussed during a late breaking session at the European Academy of Dermatology and Venereology 2023 Congress.
“Povorcitinib phase 2 results confirm the interest of oral anti-JAK1 in the treatment of vitiligo and seem to show that results of repigmentation might be maintained at least 6 months after treatment cessation,” Khaled Ezzedine, MD, PhD, of the department of dermatology at Henri Mondor Hospital and EpiDermE at the Université in Paris, told Healio.
The study included 171 adult patients with nonsegmental vitiligo affecting at least 8% of their body surface. Patients were randomly assigned to receive once-daily oral povorcitinib 15 mg, 45 mg or 75 mg or placebo for 24 weeks. A 28-week extension period allowed patients who originally received 45 mg of povorcitinib to continue that dosage once daily and switched the rest of the participants, including those in the placebo arm, to a 75 mg daily dose.
At week 52, the patients in the original 45 mg group had a 42.7% improvement in Total Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (T-VASI), whereas those in the 15 mg-to-75 mg, 75 mg and placebo-to-75 mg groups experienced improvements of 40.7%, 41.3% and 18.1%.
The mean facial depigmentation improvement, as measured by the Facial Vitiligo Area Scoring Index, was 63.8% for the 45 mg group, 63.6% for the 15 mg-to-75 mg group, 64.4% for the 75 mg group and 54.8% for the placebo-to-75 mg group.
“These 52-week results further support earlier data and reinforce the efficacy profile and potential of povorcitinib as an oral treatment for patients with extensive nonsegmental vitiligo,” Kurt Brown, MD, vice president and povorcitinib global program head at Incyte, said in the release.
Additionally, key secondary endpoints such as a 50% or 75% reduction in T-VASI was recorded in more patients on treatment at week 52 compared with week 24.
Total body repigmentation was retained in the 32 patients who completed a follow-up period through 76 weeks.
Editor's note: This article has been updated to include comments from Khaled Ezzedine, MD, PhD.