Resilience in Medicine, HS Treatments, and the Oral JAK Pipeline Today

In an interview with HCPLive, Lisa Swanson, MD, a board-certified pediatric dermatologist at Ada West Dermatology in Meridian, Idaho, who is on staff at St. Luke's Children's Hospital in Boise, highlighted key takeaways from her session at the LEADderm conference in Newport Beach, CA.

Later in this new segment of her interview, she also described oral Janus-kinase (JAK) inhibitors as being poised to change care for hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), with upadacitinib (Rinvoq) and povorcitinib advancing through late-stage trials for moderate-to-severe disease.

Speaking at LEADderm 2026, Swanson noted her talk, ‘Failure Is the Stepping Stone to Success,’ targets a specific failure she sees often in medicine: chasing an unrealistic standard of perfection. She said the drive to be right every time sets up dermatologists for disappointment more than it protects patients.

"I think all of us in medicine strive to be perfect at all times,” Swanson said. “We strive to get the right diagnosis every time. We try to get the right treatment every time for the patients, and we're just not in a 100% perfect kind of world.

Swanson described the antidote as self-forgiveness, acknowledging effort and treating outcomes as lessons rather than verdicts. She said occasional setbacks build the resilience dermatologists need to keep pursuing the kind of leader, and clinician, they want to become.

Later, she was asked about what she is most anticipating in the dermatology pipeline. Povorcitinib, an oral selective JAK1 inhibitor from Incyte, is furthest along in HS: its phase 3 STOP-HS1 trial (NCT05620836) helped enroll about 1,200 patients combined across two studies, and data presented at the 2026 American Academy of Dermatology (AAD) Annual Meeting showed 71% of participants achieved HiSCR50 and 29% reached complete lesion clearance by Week 54. Upadacitinib is advancing through phase 3 testing in HS as well.

Swanson pointed to a pediatric gap in alopecia areata care as well: of the 3 FDA-approved JAK inhibitors, baricitinib (Olumiant) and deuruxolitinib (Leqselvi) are approved only for adults, and ritlecitinib (Litfulo) covers patients 12 and older, leaving no approved option for children under 12. She said earlier treatment is increasingly recognized as important, and closing the gap would let her treat young patients directly rather than relying on off-label use.

Editor's Note: This transcript has been edited for grammar and clarity using artificial intelligence tools. Swanson had no relevant disclosures of note.

References

1. LEADderm. About LEADderm: the missing curriculum. leadderm.org.

2. Incyte's povorcitinib demonstrates lasting efficacy in hidradenitis suppurativa. Managed Healthcare Executive. AAD 2026 coverage. https://www.managedhealthcareexecutive.com/view/incyte-s-povorcitinib-demonstrates-lasting-efficacy-in-hidradenitis-suppurativa-aad-2026.

3. FDA-Approved JAK Inhibitors. National Alopecia Areata Foundation. naaf.org.