The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 269 No 7207 p92
20 July 2002

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News summary

New antifungal launched

Caspofungin, the first agent in a new class of antifungals known as echinocandins, was launched this week by Merck Sharp & Dohme (see p95). Caspofungin is indicated for the treatment of invasive aspergillosis in adult patients who are intolerant of amphotericin B, lipid formulations of amphotericin B and/or itraconazole or whose infection has progressed or failed to improve after a minimum of seven days of prior antifungal therapy. The company says that caspofungin works by inhibiting the synthesis of a component of the fungal cell wall, beta (1,3)-D-glucan, which is not present in mammalian cells.