TUESDAY, July 28, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), povorcitinib (an oral Janus kinase 1 inhibitor) is beneficial, according to a study published online July 23 in Nature Medicine.
Martina L. Porter, M.D., from Harvard Medical School in Boston, and colleagues examined the efficacy and safety of povorcitinib in two randomized trials (STOP-HS1, which enrolled 608 patients, and STOP-HS2, which enrolled 619 patients). Adults with moderate-to-severe HS were randomly assigned to once-daily treatment through week 54 to povorcitinib 45 mg, povorcitinib 75 mg, placebo with crossover to povorcitinib 45 mg at week 12, or placebo with crossover to povorcitinib 75 mg at week 12 in a 2:2:1:1 ratio. The primary end point was ≥50 percent decrease in total abscess and inflammatory nodule count, with no increase from baseline in abscess or draining tunnel count (HiSCR50) at week 12.
Adults with moderate to severe HS were randomized 2:2:1:1 to once-daily treatment through week 54: povorcitinib 45 mg; povorcitinib 75 mg; placebo with crossover at week 12 to povorcitinib 45 mg; or placebo with crossover at week 12 to povorcitinib 75 mg.
The researchers found that both povorcitinib doses met the primary end point in both studies. In STOP-HS1, 40 and 41 percent in the povorcitinib 45- and 75-mg groups, respectively, achieved HiSCR50 compared with 30 percent in the placebo group (odds ratios, 1.6 and 1.6 for povorcitinib 45 and 75 mg); in the STOP-HS2 trial, the corresponding values were 42 and 42 versus 29 percent (odds ratios, 1.8 and 1.9). Across STOP-HS1 and STOP-HS2, serious treatment-emergent adverse events occurred in 1 to 2 percent of patients across povorcitinib doses and in 2 to 3 percent across placebo through week 12; serious adverse events occurred in 5 and 6 percent of patients receiving povorcitinib 45 mg and 75 mg, respectively, through week 54.
"These data support the potential of oral povorcitinib as a treatment option for moderate-to-severe HS," the authors write.
Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Incyte Corporation, which is developing povorcitinib and partially funded the study.
