The Pharmaceutical Journal
Vol 279 No 7481 p637
8 December 2007

This article
Reprint   Photocopy

  Acrobat Reader

News summary

New antifungal medicine launched

Intravenous therapy with anidulafungin (Ecalta) is a new treatment option for people with fungal blood infections.

Launched by Pfizer last week, the echinocandin antimycotic is indicated for the treatment of invasive candidiasis in adults who are not neutropenic.

The drug has been studied mostly in patients will candidaemia and only in a limited number of people with deep tissue candida infections or with abscess-forming disease.

Anidulafungin treatment starts with a 200mg loading dose on the first day, followed by 100mg per day thereafter, infused at a rate not exceeding 1.1mg per minute.

Practitioners need to be aware that the injection contains ethanol, which could present a problem if treating alcoholic patients, women who are pregnant or breastfeeding, children, patients with epilepsy and patients with liver disease.

Although dose adustment is not required for hepatic impairment, hepatic function should be monitored for signs of deterioration throughout treatment. The dose of anidulafungin does not require adjustment for any degree of renal impairment, and the drug can be given at any time in relation to haemodialysis.

Also, unlike many other antifungal agents, anidulafungin is not expected to interact with other medicines — it is not a clinically relevant substrate, inducer or inhibitor of cytochrome P450 enzymes.