Treatment with secukinumab results in improved clinical response at 12 months and is well tolerated in patients with hidradenitis suppurativa (HS), according to the ongoing SPECTRA study in France.
“At baseline, most patients presented with moderate or severe HS,” said lead author Dr Olivier Cogrel, CHU Bordeaux, Service de Dermatologie, Bordeaux, France. “[B]y 12 months, over half of the patients had shifted to mild disease.”
A total of 192 patients (mean age 35.7 years, 53.6 percent women, median disease duration 6.0 years) were enrolled in this study between June 2024 and January 2025. Of these, 178 initiated secukinumab and were included in the analysis, and 92 had available 12-month data as of 24 February 2026. [EADV 2026, abstract 3096]
The mean International Hidradenitis Suppurativa Severity Score System (IHS4) improved from 19.9 at baseline to 9.9 at 12 months, with a mean change of ‒9.2. At 12 months, the number of patients who achieved IHS4-55/75/100 was 53 (61.6 percent), 45 (52.3 percent), and 29 (33.7 percent), respectively.
Based on IHS4 classification, nine patients (9.8 percent) had mild HS, 31 (33.7 percent) had moderate HS, and 52 (56.5 percent) had severe HS at baseline. By month 12, 46 patients (52.3 percent) were deemed to have mild HS, 18 (20.5 percent) moderate HS, and 24 (27.3 percent) severe HS.
Safety profile
Of the 180 participants in the safety population, 57 (31.7 percent) experienced at least a single adverse event (AE), with 14 (7.8 percent) stopping their treatment due to AEs. The most frequently occurring AEs were infections and infestations (12.2 percent), followed by skin and subcutaneous tissue disorders (9.4 percent), and gastrointestinal disorders (8.3 percent).
Notably, only two patients (1.1 percent) reported experiencing serious AEs, including one that led to treatment discontinuation.
“In this real-world study, secukinumab treatment was associated with improvements in clinical response at 12 months, with responses also observed at higher thresholds,” Cogrel and colleagues said.
“Secukinumab was generally well-tolerated in this study cohort, consistent with its known safety profile. These findings are consistent with results from phase III trials in patients with moderate-to-severe HS,” they added.
SPECTRA
An ongoing, prospective, noninterventional, multicentre study, SPECTRA involved adult patients with HS who started using secukinumab in accordance with the summary of product characteristics. Treatment decisions were made by dermatologists based on their routine clinical practice and independently of study participation in France.
Cogrel and colleagues followed the participants for up to 24 months following initiation of secukinumab and reported data of up to 12 months. They described the course of HS symptoms at 12 months after secukinumab initiation based on patient-reported outcomes, including pain, oozing, and bad smell.
Cogrel and his team reported treatment effectiveness based on change from baseline in IHS4 up to 12 months, the proportion of patients achieving ≥55 percent/75 percent/100 percent reduction in total IHS4 score (IHS4-55/75/100 response) at 12 months, shift in disease severity, and safety.
“HS is a chronic, recurrent, systemic inflammatory disease, characterized by painful inflammatory nodules, abscesses, and draining tunnels,” the authors said. “Secukinumab, an interleukin-17A inhibitor approved in moderate to severe HS, has demonstrated sustained clinical benefits in phase III trials.” [Lancet 2023;401:747-761; Br J Dermatol 2025;192:629-640]