# Assessment of Primary Malignancy Risk after Initiation of Biologic Therapy in Patients with Psoriasis

## TL;DR

This study found that biologic therapies for psoriasis are generally safe in terms of cancer risk over 10 years.

## Contribution

The study provides new long-term oncologic safety evidence for IL-17 and IL-23 inhibitors in psoriasis treatment.

## Key findings

- TNF inhibitors reduced the risk of any primary malignancy compared to biologic-naïve patients.
- Biologic therapies did not increase the risk of melanoma or lymphoid/hematopoietic malignancies.
- Nonmelanoma skin cancer risk was lower with TNF inhibitors but not with other biologic classes.

## Abstract

Limited evidence exists regarding the long-term oncologic safety of biologic therapies, particularly IL-17 inhibitors and IL-23 inhibitors, in the management of psoriasis. This propensity score–matched retrospective cohort study assessed the risk of developing a primary malignancy within 10 years after exposure to a Food and Drug Administration–approved biologic among patients with psoriasis compared with that among biologic-naïve controls. After propensity score matching, 32,230 biologic-exposed patients were further grouped into cohorts of TNF inhibitors (n = 16,011), IL-23 inhibitors (n = 5604), IL-12/23 inhibitors (n =3856), and IL-17 inhibitors (n = 5467). During a 10-year period, TNF inhibitor–treated patients had a reduced risk of developing any primary malignancy compared with biologic-naïve patients with psoriasis (hazard ratio [HR] = 0.80; 95% confidence interval [CI] = 0.73–0.87). Similarly, a lower incidence of any malignancy was observed among patients on IL-23 inhibitors (HR = 0.83; 95% CI = 0.68–1.02), IL-12/23 inhibitors (HR = 0.85; 95% CI = 0.71–1.03), or IL-17 inhibitors (HR = 0.87; 95% CI = 0.73–1.04); however, the differences did not reach statistical significance. TNF inhibitor users were less likely to develop nonmelanoma skin cancer (HR = 0.82; 95% CI = 0.71–0.96) than controls, and the risk of nonmelanoma skin cancer did not significantly differ among users of IL-23 inhibitors (HR = 1.09; 95% CI = 0.77–1.55), IL-12/23 inhibitors (HR = 1.22; 95% CI = 0.90–1.64), or IL-17 inhibitors (HR = 1.03; 95% CI = 0.77–1.38). Exposure to any biologic class did not associate with the risk of developing melanoma or lymphoid/hematopoietic malignancies. Overall, these results provide evidence for the long-term oncologic safety of biologic therapies in the management of psoriasis.