Incyte’s povorcitinib demonstrates lasting efficacy in hidradenitis suppurativa | AAD 2026

Incyte announced the latest results of its phase 3 STOP-HS trial for povorcitinib, an investigational oral treatment for adults with moderate to severe hidradenitis suppurativa, at the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology conference in Denver.

The results were presented during Late-Breaking Research: Session 2 by Martina Porter, M.D., who is an assistant dermatology professor at Harvard Medical School and STOP-HS study investigator.

The Hidradenitis Suppurativa Clinical Response is a scale used to determine the severity of HS symptoms, with a decrease of at least 50% considered successful.

Results showed that 71% of patients achieved HiSCR50, 57% reached HiSCR75, and 29% of participants achieved HiSCR100—meaning complete clearance of inflammatory lesions. The primary endpoint was HiSCR50.

“HS is a disease that results in scarring in most patients, and it can be progressive, and they have a lot of inflammation,” Porter said in an interview with Managed Healthcare Executive. “This can manifest as small nodules, bigger abscesses or interconnected tunnels under the skin.”

In addition to her clinical role, Porter is also an assistant dermatology professor at Harvard Medical School and the vice chair for research and academics, Department of Dermatology, at Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center.

Across two phase 3 trials enrolling approximately 1,200 patients combined, patients received 45-mg or 75-mg of povorcitinib or placebo.

Treatment-emergent adverse events included acne, nasopharyngitis and upper respiratory tract infections, occurring in approximately 76% to 83% of patients.

Beyond clinical lesion improvement, patients also reported gains in quality-of-life measures. Improvements were seen in skin pain, fatigue, and disease-related quality of life scores, with roughly 40% to 65% of participants reporting clinically meaningful improvements depending on the measure.

HS is a chronic inflammatory skin disease marked by painful nodules and abscesses which can cause scarring. It’s estimated that approximately 150,000 adults in the United States have a moderate-to-severe case. The Janus kinase (JAK) and Signal Transducer and Activator of Transcription (STAT)signaling pathway is thought to play a role in inflammation.

“These patients have probably the worst quality of life scores of any of our other inflammatory skin disorder conditions,” Porter said. “The average mild to moderate HS patient has the same quality of life impact as severe psoriasis patients do. Unfortunately, this disorder also has very high rates of anxiety, depression and suicidality as well.”

Povorcitinib has the potential to become an important new HS therapy because of its mechanism of action.

It is a small-molecule oral highly selective JAK-1 inhibitor. Currently available therapies for HS include adalimumab, which is a tumor necrosis factor (TNF) inhibitor and two interleukin (IL) 17 inhibitors, secukinumab and bimekizumab.

“IL-17 TNF inhibitors overlap somewhat from a pathophysiology standpoint, whereas a JAK inhibitor doesn't directly act on IL-17 or TNF, and so its effect on HS may be modulated somewhat through this pathway, but it's probably from something totally different,” Porter said. “I think it's really opening up new doors of being able to treat these patients by having such a different mechanism.”

Porter said she hopes povorcitinib will be avaloiable by 2027.

“The next step is to file for approval in different countries so we can get this drug into the hands of clinicians and to essentially help patients in the future,” Porter said.