Malignancy rates in a large cohort of patients with systemically treated psoriasis in a managed care population

Asgari M, Ray G, Geier J, Quesenberry C

J Am Acad of Dermatol. 2016.

While biologic agents have become a popular treatment option for psoriasis, there are still many unknown dangers associated with this form of therapy. Negative side effects do not always become apparent during clinical trial periods, and therefore more thorough investigation takes place in a managed care setting to determine what potential harms patients are undertaking when using systemic treatments for psoriasis. A key example is the market withdrawal of the previously FDA approved drug, efalizumab. Five years after this drug had been released to the market, it was found that there was a significant increase in risk of progressive multifocal leukoencephalopathy.