Posaconazole: a new broad-spectrum antifungal agent

Abstract

The rising incidence of invasive fungal infections and the emergence of broader fungal resistance have led to the need for novel antifungal agents. Posaconazole is a new member of the triazole class of antifungals. It is available as an oral suspension and has a favorable toxicity profile, has demonstrated clinical efficacy in the treatment of oropharyngeal candidiasis and has shown promise as salvage therapy for invasive aspergillosis, zygomycosis, cryptococcal meningitis and a variety of other fungal infections. In addition, data from randomized controlled studies support its efficacy for use in prophylaxis of invasive fungal infections in patients who are severely immunocompromised. The wide spectrum activity of posaconazole in in vitro studies, animal models and preliminary clinical studies suggest that posaconazole represents an important addition to the antifungal armamentarium.

Keywords::

• aspergillosis
• Aspergillus spp.
• Candida spp.
• candidiasis
• coccidioidomycosis
• cryptococcal meningitis
• fusariosis
• histoplasmosis
• posaconazole
• scedosporiasis
• SCH-56592
• zygomycosis

Disclosure

E Mylonakis has received financial support, provided by a K08 award AI63084 from NIH and a New Scholar Award in Global Infectious Diseases of the Ellison Medical Foundation. E Mylonakis has served as a consultant for Biogen Idec.

This article was independently commissioned and no fee has been received for preparation of the manuscript.