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news.Two studies funded by Schering-Plough have demonstrated the efficacy of Noxafil, showing it was better than current drugs in preventing life-threatening invasive fungal infections in high-risk patients.
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High-risk patients who develop invasive fungal infections (IFIs) have a mortality rate ranging from 50-90%. In both these studies Noxafil, also known as posaconazole, was significantly more effective in preventing invasive aspergillosis and reducing deaths related to invasive fungal infections. In one study the drug reduced overall mortality versus the combined comparator drugs.
“With posaconazole, we now can help prevent infections caused by the two most common pathogens, Aspergillus and Candida, before they occur,” said Oliver Cornely, assistant professor, 1st Department for Internal Medicine, University of Cologne, Germany.
The studies demonstrated substantially fewer breakthrough Aspergillus infections with Noxafil prophylaxis versus the combined comparator drugs in high-risk patients. These patients included hematopoietic stem cell transplant, recipients with graft-versus-host disease, or those with hematologic malignancies such as acute myelogenous leukemia or myelodysplastic syndromes with prolonged neutropenia from chemotherapy.
However the researchers said that in these studies, Noxafil did produce more side effects when compared to fluconazole.
Noxafil is the first and only antifungal agent approved for the prevention of IFIs caused by Aspergillus. Noxafil received marketing approval for prophylaxis in the US and European Union in 2006, based primarily on the results of these two studies.