AAD 2026: 7 Late-Breaking Data Updates to Know in Dermatology

The 2026 American Academy of Dermatology Annual Meeting, held March 27–31 in Denver, Colorado, delivered one of the most consequential late-breaking programs in recent memory—one that may look, in retrospect, like a turning point for oral therapy in immune-mediated skin disease. Plaque psoriasis alone commanded multiple pivotal readouts, with the phase 3 LATITUDE and ONWARD programs for zasocitinib and envudeucitinib respectively positioning a second wave of TYK2 inhibitors as potential biologic-level competitors in a once oral-skeptical space. The message from both datasets was strikingly consistent: high skin clearance rates, rapid onset, durable responses, and safety profiles that don't carry the warnings associated with broader JAK inhibition.

Beyond psoriasis, the meeting made a compelling case that the dermatology pipeline has matured well beyond its traditional boundaries. In hidradenitis suppurativa, two distinct therapeutic approaches—MoonLake's IL-17A/F nanobody sonelokimab and Incyte's oral JAK1 inhibitor povorcitinib—each presented long-term data showing deepening clinical responses through 40 and 54 weeks respectively, raising the bar for what durable disease control looks like in a condition historically defined by high treatment failure rates. The Viti-Up trials offered the field its first phase 3 evidence for a systemic vitiligo therapy, with upadacitinib meeting both co-primary repigmentation endpoints and regulatory submissions now filed with both the FDA and EMA.

The meeting also surfaced two datasets that extend beyond dermatology's traditional scope. Eli Lilly's TOGETHER-PsA trial—the first randomized study to test a biologic plus an incretin therapy against a biologic alone—showed that adding tirzepatide to ixekizumab in patients with PsA and obesity substantially improved both joint and weight outcomes, introducing what investigators called a potential paradigm shift in how systemic inflammation and metabolic disease are managed together. And in alopecia areata, rezpegaldesleukin offered proof of concept for an entirely new mechanism—regulatory T-cell stimulation—in a disease where JAK inhibitors have been the only advanced option.

Here are 7 updates from AAD 2026 that clinicians should know.

1. Zasocitinib Demonstrates Sustained PASI Responses Through Week 60

Late-breaking data from the phase 3 LATITUDE trial program, presented by Melinda Gooderham, MD, medical director of the SKiN Centre for Dermatology in Ontario, Canada, showed that zasocitinib achieved approximately 70% sPGA 0/1 and PASI 75 rates at week 16 against both placebo and apremilast, with PASI 75 and PASI 90 responses sustained through week 60—directly addressing a longstanding question about the durability of oral agents in psoriasis. More than 90% of week-40 responders maintained clear or nearly clear skin through week 60, and roughly one-third achieved PASI 100 by week 16. Gooderham framed the results as marking a new era in which an oral agent may deliver biologic-level efficacy, with Takeda planning an NDA submission in fiscal year 2026.

2. ONWARD: Envudeucitinib Demonstrates High PASI Responses in Phase 3

In an interview following his late-breaking presentation, Andrew Blauvelt, MD, MBA, principal investigator on the ONWARD program, described envudeucitinib as a second-generation TYK2 inhibitor engineered specifically for complete 24-hour target coverage—the only TYK2 inhibitor shown to achieve maximal inhibition over a full dosing interval in humans—with the ONWARD1 and ONWARD2 trials enrolling more than 1,700 adults and meeting all primary and secondary endpoints against both placebo and apremilast with high statistical significance. At week 16, approximately 74–75% of patients achieved PASI 75 and 59% achieved sPGA 0/1, with responses deepening through week 24 to include PASI 100 rates approaching 40%. An NDA submission is planned for the second half of 2026, alongside a once-daily extended-release formulation in development.

3. Rezpegaldesleukin Shows Favorable Safety, Durable Responses in Alopecia Areata

David Rosmarin, MD, chair of the Department of Dermatology at Indiana University School of Medicine, presented phase 2b REZOLVE-AA data at AAD showing rezpegaldesleukin—a novel Treg agonist—demonstrated statistically significant hair regrowth in severe-to-very-severe alopecia areata, with efficacy showing no plateau at week 36 and a 16-week extension expected to capture additional responders. The safety profile was reassuring across more than 1,000 patients exposed in 11 studies, with injection site reactions as the most common adverse event and no signals for MACE, thrombosis, serious infection, or malignancy. Rosmarin characterized the mechanism—selective Treg expansion via pegylated IL-2—as genuinely differentiated from JAK inhibitors, the only currently approved advanced option in the disease.

4. VELA: Phase 3 Data Suggest Sonelokimab Effective for HS

Week 40 data from the phase 3 VELA-1 and VELA-2 trials, presented by Alexa Kimball, MD, MPH, of Harvard Medical School, showed that 62% of patients treated with sonelokimab achieved HiSCR75 and up to 32% achieved HiSCR100 by week 40, with clinical improvement continuing to build on the response trajectory first established at the 16-week primary endpoint readout. Patients also reported substantial quality-of-life gains, including a 41% reduction in pain and improvements in depression and daily function at week 40. MoonLake Immunotherapeutics indicated plans to file a biologics license application later in 2026, with 52-week data expected in Q2.

5. Povorcitinib Delivers Deepening Responses Through 54 Weeks in Moderate-to-Severe HS

Martina Porter, MD, of Harvard Medical School and Beth Israel Deaconess Medical Center, presented 54-week data from the STOP-HS1 and STOP-HS2 trials showing povorcitinib achieved HiSCR50 in up to 71% of patients, HiSCR75 in up to 57%, and HiSCR100 in up to 29%, with full clearance of all inflammatory lesions in up to 20% of patients—adding a mechanistically distinct oral JAK1 option to a treatment landscape anchored to injectable biologics. The safety profile through 54 weeks was consistent with prior 24-week data, with acne, nasopharyngitis, and upper respiratory infection among the most common TEAEs and no new signals of concern. Porter positioned JAK-STAT pathway inhibition as genuinely complementary to existing IL-17 and TNF inhibitors, with particular potential for biologic-experienced patients who have not responded adequately.

6. Next Steps for Upadacitinib in Non-Segmental Vitiligo

Phase 3 Viti-Up-1 and Viti-Up-2 data presented by Thierry Passeron, MD, PhD, professor and chair of the Department of Dermatology at the Université Côte d'Azur in Nice, France, showed that upadacitinib 15 mg once daily met both co-primary endpoints of T-VASI 50 and F-VASI 75 at week 48 in adults and adolescents with non-segmental vitiligo, with continuous improvement observed over the treatment period and no new safety signals or MACE identified. Passeron emphasized the importance of expectation management for patients seeking complete clearance, noting vitiligo repigmentation is a slower process than psoriasis or atopic dermatitis. Regulatory submissions to both the FDA and EMA have been filed, and if approved, upadacitinib would become the first systemic therapy indicated for vitiligo.

7. TOGETHER-PsA: Ixekizumab Plus Tirzepatide Delivers Superior Efficacy Over Biologic Monotherapy

Detailed results from the phase 3b TOGETHER-PsA trial, presented at AAD and simultaneously published in Arthritis & Rheumatology, showed that in 271 adults with active PsA and obesity or overweight, 31.7% receiving concomitant ixekizumab and tirzepatide achieved the composite primary endpoint of ACR50 plus ≥10% weight reduction at 36 weeks, versus 0.8% on ixekizumab monotherapy, with improvements in disease activity, fatigue, physical function, and cardiometabolic markers also favoring the combination. The findings, presented by Joseph F. Merola, MD, professor and chair of dermatology at UT Southwestern Medical Center, represent the first randomized trial to test whether co-treating obesity alongside a biologic improves PsA outcomes—and suggest that for many patients, cardiometabolic disease may be an underappreciated driver of inadequate biologic response. Eli Lilly indicated it plans to discuss the findings with regulators, though no submission timeline was disclosed.