Abstract

Currently available antifungal agents for the treatment of systemic fungal infections in Japan are smaller in number than those in the United States and Europe and probably in Korea. Therefore, the development of novel antifungal drugs for clinical use, including new formulations of approved agents, with advantages over and/or complimentary to existing agents is particularly needed in Japan. In this review, I have described historical perspectives of existing systemic antifungal agents and provided a brief overview of the current status of clinical development of several different categories of new drugs as follows: (1) liposomal amphotericin B; (2) itraconazole-hydroxypropyl-β-cyclodextrin complexes; (3) phosphatyl fluconazole (phosfluconazole); (4) voriconazole; and (5) micafungin (FK463). At this

moment, micafungin, a member of echinocandins attracts the greatest attention of Japanese medical mycologists because it has just been introduced into the clinic and has unique chemical and biological characteristics distinct from any other existing class of antifungal drugs. Micafungin, as well as other new drugs under clinical development, should constitute effective new options for the management of a variety of systemic fungal infections.

Keywords

Antifungal agents Amphotericin B lipid formulations Itraconazole-hydroxypropyl-β- cyclodextrin complex New generation antifungal triazoles Echinocandins

KJMM 2003 June;8(2):35-42(8). Epub 2016 February 20
Copyright © 2003 by Korean Journal of Medical Mycology

Language

English

Author

Hideyo Yamaguchi; Teikyo University Institute of Medical Mycology, Tokyo, Japan

Corresponding

Hideyo Yamaguchi, Teikyo University Institute of Medical Mycology, 359 Otsuka, Hachioji-shi, Tokyo 192-0395, Japan. Phone: +81-426-76-3003, Fax: +81-426-74-9190, e-mail: timm@main.teikyo-u.ac.jp

Publication history

Acknowledgements

This is an Open Access article distributed under the terms of the Creative Commons Attribution Non-Commercial License (http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nc/3.0/) which permits unrestricted non-commercial use, distribution, and reproduction in any medium, provided the original work is properly cited.

Hideyo Yamaguchi

Teikyo University Institute of Medical Mycology, Tokyo, Japan

Since epub date 2016 February 20