The 2014 National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE) guidelines for the assessment and management of psoriasis were updated in 2017. There is little of note in relation to the previous articles in this series, however since the development of more biologics and cheaper forms of biosimilars, the guidelines were amended to reflect these readily available treatments (NICE, 2017a). The seventh and final article in this series provides an overview of systemic non-biological and biologic therapies. It looks at how these treatments target and treat psoriasis, as well as side-effects, contraindications and monitoring recommendations of certain drugs.
This series has addressed the treatments for psoriasis as advised by
the National Institute for Health and Care Excellence (NICE, 2017). This condition affects between 1.3-2.2% of the population (Parisi et al, 2011). It is recognised that psoriasis can have a significant impact on mood, mental health, poor lifestyle choices (Cohen et al, 2016; Landriscina et al, 2016), reduced activities of daily living, and is linked with other comorbidities, such as diabetes (Armstrong, 2013) and cardiovascular disease (Rutter et al, 2016). NICE developed a treatment pathway, advising bland emollients, topical treatments, phototherapy, systemic medications and systemic non-biological and biologic therapy. In recent years, the latter options have increased dramatically. This article focuses on the more traditional systemic
treatments, as advised by NICE.
