Dermatologists must become comfortable prescribing JAK inhibitors in patients with skin of color in order to provide high-quality dermatologic care. That’s according to Dr. Brett King, a dermatologist in Fairfield, Conn., who was the first dermatologist to show that JAK inhibitors as a medicine class were effective in treating a spectrum of dermatologic conditions, including alopecia areata and vitiligo. Next Steps in Derm, in partnership with Skin of Color Update, interviewed Dr. King, who shared the unique value of JAK inhibitors and their current and potential future impacts, especially in inflammatory conditions that are more common in people with skin of color, such as hidradenitis suppurativa. Plus hear his thoughts on vitiligo repigmentation using JAK inhibitors.
Further Reading
If you want to read more about JAK inhibitors in dermatology, check out the following articles published in the Journal of Drugs in Dermatology:
The ABCs of JAKis: A Clinician’s Guide to Safety and Monitoring of the Systemic JAK Inhibitors
ABSTRACT
Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKis) have recently emerged in the arsenal of tools to treat dermatological conditions. However, there are some concerns regarding these treatments due to their boxed warning. Here we discuss the safe and effective use of JAKs for the treatment of a wide variety of dermatologic conditions. We will also discuss monitoring guidelines.
ABSTRACT
Atopic dermatitis (AD) is a common inflammatory skin disease that can significantly affect a patient’s quality of life. The pathogenesis of AD is multifactorial and is associated with the dysregulation of type 2 helper T cells and increased production of interleukins 4, 13, and 31.1 A recent study found that the global 1-year period AD prevalence rate and affected population were estimated to be 2.6% and 204.05 million people, respectively.2 Common treatments for this condition include topical steroids, emollients, calcineurin inhibitors, narrowband UVB phototherapy, methotrexate, cyclosporine, biologic therapies, and Janus kinase inhibitors (JAKi), among others.1,3 While combination biologic therapy with dupilumab and various JAKi has been utilized previously, we report a unique case of a patient treated with lebrikizumab in combination with upadacitinib after unsuccessful treatment with upadacitinib 30 mg monotherapy.
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