Maui Derm Panel: GLP-1 Agonists Can Help Psoriasis Patients

Only 11% of Maui Derm 2025 audience members polled said they were comfortable prescribing weight-loss drugs, and 49% said they were not at all—but they should be, according to the presenters of “Psoriasis Update 2025” at the conference in Maui, Hawaii.

Bruce Strober, MD, PhD; Arthur Kavanaugh, MD; Linda Stein Gold, MD; Kenneth Gordon, MD; and Joel Gelfand, MD, MSCE, discussed GLP-1 agonists in plaque psoriasis as part of a panel presentation, including a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort and before-and-after studies.¹

Dr. Strober also indicated that an upcoming study will compare the use of a well-known biologic for psoriasis with and without a GLP-1 drug to see if the drugs enhance the biologic’s effect.

“It’s possible that these GLP-1 agonists on their own are reducing systemic inflammation, either systemically or at the tissue site,” Dr. Strober said, adding that he would not advocate for prescribing GLP-1 agonists as the sole means for treating psoriasis, but that “it’s possible that they’re excellent add-ons.”

Dr. Gordon noted that perhaps dermatologists should not be so apprehensive about GLP-1 drugs because they already prescribe apremilast, which increases GLP-1 secretion.

Dr. Kavanaugh noted that fatty liver is a significant comorbidity of psoriasis that GLP-1 agonists can address.

“We have nothing for fatty liver,” Dr. Kavanaugh said. “A lot of us stopped sending [patients] to the liver clinic because they’d say, ‘lose weight.’ There is no real medicine that would work for them. Now, these are. And it’s such a common comorbidity.”

1. Chang G, Chen B, Zhang L. Efficacy of GLP-1rA, liraglutide, in plaque psoriasis treatment with type 2 diabetes: a systematic review and meta-analysis of prospective cohort and before-after studies. J Dermatolog Treat. 2022;33(3):1299-1305. doi: 10.1080/09546634.2021.1882658. Epub 2021 May 3.