Biological therapies had a low incidence of therapy-related serious adverse events in a cohort of patients with psoriasis, according to study results.
Van Lümig and colleagues, of Radboud University Nijmegen Medical Centre, the Netherlands, prospectively evaluated safety data for the biological treatment of psoriasis in daily practice between February 2005 and April 2010 for 173 patients. The study’s primary endpoint was the percentage of patients who reported at least one serious adverse event. Researchers also compared the incidence rate of malignancies, serious infections and serious cardiovascular events with that of the general population.
After 263 treatment episodes with etanercept (Enbrel, Amgen), 28% of patients (n=49) reported 88 serious adverse events; however, only one serious adverse event was found to be causally related to the treatment, and 21 were considered possibly related, researchers said.
With the exception of skin malignancies, which were significantly higher in the treatment group, the incidence of malignancies, serious infections and serious cardiovascular events were found to be comparable between the treatment group and the general population, according to researchers.