BIOLOGICAL TREATMENT OF PSORIASIS IN TIME OF NEW CORONAVIRUS INFECTION COVID-19

Abstract

Currently, the ongoing pandemic of the novel coronavirus infection is still a major public health problem worldwide. The questions of immunosuppressive therapy of patients with psoriasis and psoriatic arthritis, the possibility of vaccination against the background of the use of genetically engineered drugs remain open. The article is of an overview nature and includes up-to-date information on the feasibility and safety of the use of genetically engineered biological drugs in patients with psoriasis in a pandemic (COVID-19). According to the international recommendations of the National Psoriasis Foundation COVID-19 Task Force expert group, treatment of psoriasis and/or PsA does not significantly alter the risk of SARS-CoV-2 infection and does not lead to worse prognosis of COVID-19. Therefore, patients not infected with SARS-CoV-2 should continue biological or other systemic therapy for psoriasis and/or PsA. According to a registry from 25 countries, hospitalization with SARS-CoV-2 infection was more common in patients receiving nonbiological systemic therapy than in patients receiving BAs. Thus, genetically engineered biological drugs do not appear to cause an increased risk of coronavirus infection and do not determine a more severe course. With regard to vaccination of patients with psoriasis, many issues require further study. According to international agreements, vaccination is not contraindicated in patients with psoriatic disease. However, there is still insufficient data on how the treatment of psoriatic disease affects vaccination. Avoiding COVID-19 or reducing the severity of infection following SARS-CoV-2 vaccination is thought to far outweigh any risk directly related to vaccination complications.