The Promise of Ruxolitinib Cream for Vitiligo Repigmentation

There’s a promising future for vitiligo management, with ruxolitinib cream playing a significant role in facial and body repigmentation.

New data presented at the American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) 2022 Annual Meeting found that approximately 3 in 10 patients with vitiligo treated with the topical therapy achieved ≥90% improvement on facial vitiligo regimentation after 52 weeks.

The findings came from a late-breaking abstract that reviewed data on adult and adolescent patients with vitiligo from the TRuE-V1 and TRuE-V2 trials.

“This is remarkably similar to the results we saw in the phase 2 study (of ruxolitinib cream),” said investigator David Rosmarin, MD, Vice Chair for Research and Education at Tufts Medical Center. “Additionally, whereas 20-25% of patients will repigment about 50% or more of their whole body at the 6 month mark, that jumps up to about half the patients at week 52.”

The trial included 330 patients in TRuE-V1 and 343 patients in TRuE-V2.

In each trial, Rosmarin and colleagues reviewed data on the proportion of patients who achieved ≥75% improvement from baseline in facial vitiligo severity index (F-VASI75) as well as the number of patients who achieved ≥50% improvement from baseline in total body vitiligo severity index (T-SAVI50) after being treated with the topical cream.

Approximately half of all patients treated with ruxolitinib achieved F-VASI75 by week 52, and 30% of patients achieved F-VASI90 by week 52. Additionally, T-VASI was achieved by roughly half of all patients treated up to 52 weeks.

Though the Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved the ruxolitinib cream for short-term treatment of atopic dermatitis, an approval has yet to be announced for vitiligo.

“Currently, we have no FDA approved treatments for repigmented vitiligo,” Rosmarin said. “Hopefully ruxolitinib cream will be the first. Many patients don't have access to other standard treatments like phototherapy and oftentimes our calcineurin inhibitors and topical corticosteroids don't give patients the results that they're looking for. So having this option for patients gives us a lot of hope to help people who want it.”