With abundant psoriasis treatments available, research now aiming for higher goals

CLEVELAND — With myriad treatment options now available for psoriasis vulgaris, recent research is focusing on reaching higher goals, Anthony P. Fernandez, MD, PhD, said at the Medical Dermatology Therapy Update III meeting.

“We are more spoiled in psoriasis than in any disease space in dermatology in terms of the weapons we have available to us,” Fernandez, clinical assistant professor of medicine at Cleveland Clinic’s Lerner College of Medicine, the meeting’s activity director and a member of the Healio Dermatology Peer Perspective Board, said.

With 14 systemic therapies approved by the FDA in the past 20 years, along with a host of topical treatment options, it is now possible for patients to realistically look forward to clear or almost clear skin.

This means that researchers are now focusing on achieving goals such as minimizing cardiovascular events and preventing psoriatic arthritis.