Deucravacitinib
Deucravacitinib is in Phase 2 for alopecia areata, developed by Bristol Myers Squibb.
An allosteric TYK2 inhibitor approved for psoriasis, whose alopecia areata trial was terminated with placebo ahead of both doses, now being tried by academics in the scarring alopecias.
- Developed by
- Bristol Myers Squibb
- Current phase
- Phase 2
- Mechanism
- JAK inhibitor
- Indications
- Alopecia areata, Scarring alopecia
- Also known as
- BMS-986165, Sotyktu
- Last public activity
- July 2026
- Copy last reviewed
- September 2026
- Record confidence
- High
Tests whether it works, at what dose, in a few hundred people.
Calms the immune attack on the follicle by blocking JAK signalling - the class that transformed alopecia areata.
A research record, not medical advice: being listed here says nothing about whether a treatment works or whether it is right for you. Talk to a dermatologist about your own case.
How it is meant to work
TYK2 is a JAK-family kinase, but deucravacitinib binds a regulatory domain rather than the ATP site the classic JAK inhibitors occupy. That selectivity is the entire proposition: it is approved for plaque psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis in the US and EU, and its US label carries no boxed warning of the kind class-labelled onto oral JAK inhibitors there.
Why it matters
If it had worked here it would have changed the risk conversation rather than the efficacy one. It did not: Bristol Myers Squibb terminated the 94-patient Phase 2 in alopecia areata citing changed business objectives, and the results posted in February 2025 show mean SALT changes at week 24 of minus 5.8 on 6 mg once daily and plus 1.0 on 6 mg twice daily, against minus 7.3 on placebo. What remains is a 20-patient open-label academic trial in central centrifugal cicatricial alopecia and frontal fibrosing alopecia, recruiting since May 2026 with BMS as collaborator, on the reading that the scarring alopecias are where the unmet need is loudest.
Development history
- Phase 2
First Phase 2 trial on record: NCT05556265 — A Study to Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of Deucravacitinib in Participants With Alopecia Areata
ClinicalTrials.gov ↗
Registered trials
Pulled automatically from ClinicalTrials.gov. Matching is by name and development code, so occasional gaps are possible — tell us if you spot one.
Deucravacitinib in the Treatment of Cicatricial Alopecias
Icahn School of Medicine at Mount Sinai · n=20 · May 2026
A Study to Evaluate Efficacy and Safety of Deucravacitinib in Participants With Alopecia Areata
Bristol-Myers Squibb · n=94 · November 2022
Listing a trial is not a recommendation to join one. Eligibility, risks and costs vary enormously — discuss any trial with your own doctor first.
Sources
- A Study of Deucravacitinib in Participants With Moderate to Severe Alopecia Areata — ClinicalTrials.gov
- Deucravacitinib in the Treatment of Cicatricial Alopecias — ClinicalTrials.gov
- SOTYKTU (deucravacitinib) tablets, US prescribing information (openFDA) — Regulator filing
- U.S. FDA approves Sotyktu (deucravacitinib) for adults with active psoriatic arthritis — Company release, March 2026
- Sotyktu (deucravacitinib), European public assessment report — Regulator filing, March 2023
Related programmes
Other programmes in the register with the same mechanism: JAK inhibitor.
Cite this page
Hair Pipeline, "Deucravacitinib — development record", hairpipeline.com/pipeline/deucravacitinib-aa