WEDNESDAY, June 25, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with extensive nonsegmental vitiligo, treatment with the oral, selective Janus kinase 1 inhibitor povorcitinib significantly improves total Vitiligo Area Scoring Index (T-VASI), according to a study published online June 13 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Amit G. Pandya, M.D. from the Palo Alto Foundation Medical Group in Sunnyvale, California, and colleagues examined the efficacy and safety of povorcitinib in extensive nonsegmental vitiligo in a double-blinded dose-ranging, phase 2 study. Adults were randomly assigned to once-daily povorcitinib 15, 45, or 75 mg or placebo for 24 weeks in a 1:1:1:1 ratio. Those initially randomized to 45 mg subsequently received povorcitinib 45 mg until week 52, while those initially randomized to 15 mg, 75 mg, and placebo subsequently received 75 mg until week 52. The primary end point was the percentage change in T-VASI from baseline at week 24.

Overall, 82.5 percent of the 171 patients randomly assigned completed the 24-week treatment. The researchers found that T-VASI was significantly improved from baseline at week 24 with povorcitinib (19.1, 17.8, and 15.7 percent for 15, 45, and 75 mg, respectively, versus −2.3 percent for placebo). Through week 52, continuous improvement was seen. Across treatment groups, the incidence of grade ≥3 treatment-emergent adverse events was similar, with no new safety signals reported.

"In patients with extensive nonsegmental vitiligo, povorcitinib demonstrated substantial total body and facial repigmentation, showing similar efficacy across doses without dose effect," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to biopharmaceutical companies, including Incyte, which manufactures povorcitinib and funded the study.

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