Cancer Risk Not Increased With Biologic Versus Nonbiologic Therapy in Psoriasis

WEDNESDAY, Nov. 11, 2026 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with chronic psoriasis, there is no increased risk for cancer or keratinocyte carcinoma (KC) in association with biologic versus nonbiologic systemic therapies, according to a study published online Nov. 6 in the Journal of the European Academy of Dermatology & Venereology.Oras A. Alabas, Ph.D., from the University of Manchester in the United Kingdom, and colleagues compared the risk for incident cancer excluding KC (cancer group) and KC among patients with chronic psoriasis treated with biologic versus nonbiologic systemic therapies. For enhanced cancer ascertainment, data from the British Association of Dermatologists Biologics and Immunomodulators Register were linked to National Health Service Digital.The cancer and KC groups included 18,894 and 19,144 patients, respectively (58 percent received biologics). The researchers found that cancer incidence rates were 6.40 and 6.83 per 1,000 person-years in biologic initiators and nonbiologic systemic initiators, respectively, in a one-year lagged analysis, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 0.91 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.77 to 1.07). For KC, the corresponding incidence rates were 2.63 and 2.42, with an adjusted hazard ratio of 1.05 (95 percent confidence interval, 0.81 to 1.35). Cancer risk did not differ significantly for interleukin (IL)-12/23 inhibitors or IL-17 inhibitors versus tumor necrosis factor inhibitors; KC risk was not elevated with IL-12/23 inhibitors."Our linked data showing no evidence of increased cancer risk with biologics compared with nonbiologic systemic therapies are reassuring for clinicians treating psoriasis with biologics," the authors write.Several authors disclosed ties to the pharmaceutical industry.Abstract/Full Text.Sign up for our weekly HealthDay newsletter

Cancer Risk Not Increased With Biologic Versus Nonbiologic Therapy in Psoriasis

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