WEDNESDAY, Oct. 22, 2025 (HealthDay News) -- For patients with psoriasis treated with biologics, ustekinumab may be associated with a lower five-year risk for any first cancer than adalimumab, according to a research letter published online Oct. 22 in JAMA Dermatology.

Christopher Willy Schwarz, M.D., from Copenhagen University Hospital-Herlev and Gentofte in Denmark, and colleagues examined the risk for developing any first cancer in patients with psoriasis treated with the biologics adalimumab, secukinumab, or ustekinumab. A total of 2,878 new users were included: 2,001, 286, and 591 initiated adalimumab, secukinumab, and ustekinumab, respectively. To account for cancer induction and latency periods, 12-month lag time after treatment initiation and 12-month lag time after discontinuation were applied. Twenty-four-month lag times were used in a secondary analysis.

The researchers found that 36, five, and 10 first cancers were diagnosed in the adalimumab, secukinumab, and ustekinumab groups, respectively, using 12-month lag times. The five-year standardized cancer absolute risks were 0.040, 0.036, and 0.024 for adalimumab, secukinumab, and ustekinumab, respectively. Standardized estimates suggested cancer risks that were 41 and 12 percent lower with ustekinumab than adalimumab and with secukinumab than adalimumab (P = 0.06 and P = 0.77). The standardized estimates suggested a 56 percent lower five-year cancer risk with ustekinumab versus adalimumab using 24-month lag times (P < 0.001).

"We found a pattern suggesting that ustekinumab is associated with a lower five-year risk of any first cancer (excluding NMSC [nonmelanoma skin cancer]) than adalimumab," the authors write.

Several authors disclosed ties to the biopharmaceutical industry.

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