A pharmacovigilance study on FDA approved interleukin inhibitor-associated alopecia in the treatment of psoriasis

Abstract

FDA has approved about 12 biologics for treating psoriasis. Among them, TNF-α inhibitors have a history of causing alopecia while used for treatment. In our study, we tried to find out the relation between alopecia and the FDA-approved biologics that are interleukin inhibitors while treating psoriasis. In our study, we include data from FDA Adverse Event Reporting System (FAERS) to find out Reporting Odds Ratio and Confidence Interval (CI). For interleukin inhibitors Ustekinumab, Guselkumab, Brodalumab, Ixekizumab and Secukinumab, the lower bound of CI were less than 1. We did not find any value for Tildrakizumab and Risankizumab. We did not find any signal for adverse event Alopecia. There are several cases available that says that, IL-17A causes alopecia when given to patients. More investigation is required to find out connection between them for the safety and find better alteration of these drugs if needed.