Incyte hopes its cream can rise to the top

After last year’s epacadostat blowup, Incyte’s topical version of ruxolitinib, the active ingredient of its approved drug Jakafi, is now the group’s brightest pipeline hope. However, this is not saying much, with EvaluatePharma sellside consensus predicting 2024 sales of just $74m. At least topical ruxolitinib keeps delivering, with positive phase II data in the skin disorder vitiligo helping drive Incyte's stock up 5% this morning. The company plans to start phase III development later this year, with a 1.5% once and/or twice-daily dose looking the most likely to move forward based on the results reported on Saturday at the World Congress of Dermatology. Topical ruxolitinib is already in two phase III studies in atopic dermatitis, True AD1 and True AD2, testing 1.5% and 0.75% twice daily. Several other topical Jak inhibitors are in trials in various autoimmune diseases, including Aclaris’s ATI-502, which is due to yield data from a phase II vitiligo study in mid-year – the company just reported phase II data with the project in alopecia. Topical ruxolitinib is not in development for alopecia, but CTP-543, Concert's deuterated version of ruxolitinib, is; however, Incyte is doing its best to get Concert’s patent invalidated.