The efficacy and safety of currently approved and pipeline medications for moderate-to-severe hidradenitis suppurativa (HS) are compared in a systematic literature review and network meta-analysis published online July 2 in JAMA Dermatology.

Amit Garg, M.D., from Northwell in New Hyde Park, New York, and colleagues compared the efficacy, safety, and tolerability of treatments for moderate-to-severe HS in a systematic literature review of phase 2 and 3 randomized clinical trials. Twenty-five trials, including 5,767 patients and 39 unique treatments, had available hidradenitis suppurativa clinical response (HiSCR)-50 data.

The researchers found that sonelokimab (120 mg every four weeks and 240 mg every two weeks), lutikizumab (300 mg every two weeks), adalimumab (40 mg once per week), bimekizumab (320 mg every two weeks and 320 mg every four weeks), povorcitinib (15 mg once a day), and secukinumab (300 mg every four weeks and 300 mg every two weeks) were associated with significantly higher HiSCR-50 response rates compared with placebo.

The differences between adalimumab (40 mg once per week) and other targeted treatments were mostly not statistically significant. The percentage of patients experiencing serious adverse events ranged from 0% to 10%, 0% to 8%, and 0% to 6% in the placebo groups, the adalimumab (40 mg once per week) groups, and the other active treatment groups, respectively.

“These data do not provide strong support for the superiority of one treatment over adalimumab, or vice versa,” the authors write.

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