MONDAY, Dec. 29, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with psoriasis and active or recent cancer, biologics are safe and have no impact on cancer progression, according to a study published online Dec. 17 in the Journal of the American Academy of Dermatology.

Danielle Bar, M.D., from Tel Aviv University in Israel, and colleagues examined the safety of biologic therapies in patients with psoriasis and active or recent (no more than five years) cancer in a surveillance study involving 333 cases. Comparators were patients treated with conventional systemic agents.

The researchers found that progression/recurrence rates were 10.7 and 10.5 per 100 patient-years for biologics and conventional agents, respectively, during a median follow-up of six years. In both groups, the cumulative one-year progression- or recurrence-free survival was 86 percent. Biologics did not have an impact on cancer progression (hazard ratio, 1.02; 95 percent confidence interval, 0.59 to 1.77; P = 0.94). Impaired functional status, advanced cancer stage (hazard ratio per stage increment, 1.48; 95 percent confidence interval, 1.21 to 1.82; P < 0.001), and higher comorbidity burden were predictors of progression.

"Our findings indicate that biologics exhibit a favorable safety profile in patients with cancer, and treatment choice may be guided more by psoriasis severity than by the presence of malignancy," the authors write.

Abstract/Full Text