Psoriasis treatment: infection risk with biologics

• Newer treatments against psoriasis are targeted and are called „biologics“ as a group.
• However biologics can be divided into two groups, based on their molecular target.
  • The newer ones target Il-17 and include secukinumab and ustekinumab
  • The « older » ones include etanercept, infliximab and adalimumab (which bind tumor necrosis factor (TNF))
• Anti-TNF medication is known to carry a risk of infection as well as malignancy : a full screen (such as search for tuberculosis…) is required prior to initiating therapy

• The following study really goes into a review of he literature digging into to the quantified risks of infection the conclusion suggests that the risks aren’t really  high (odds of 1.18)). Nevertheless for malignancies the risk ratio is 1.48 which is not negligible

For full access to the free article in the Journal of American Academy of Dermatology (JAAD), click here.

JAAD: click here to view abstracts from the current edition, articles in press, most cited articles and top 25 articles.

Contributors

Dr Christophe Hsu – dermatologist. Geneva, Switzerland

Dr Damjan Nikolic – dermatologist. Geneva, Switzerland