New and prospective developments in antifungal drugs

Abstract

In recent years many new antifungal compounds have been developed. Some of them are currently under investigation as orally or topically active drugs in human mycotic infections. The 3 main groups in this development are imidazoles, triazoles and allylamines. The group of imidazoles consists mainly of topical drugs with an activity comparable to that of miconazole, clotrimazole e.a. Besides ketoconazole, some other orally active imidazoles are currently under development e.g. SC38390. The chemical group of antifungals receiving the most attention at present is the tiazole family. Both topical (e.g. terconazole) as oral (e.g. R 51 211, Bay 7133) drugs are currently investigated. A third group consists of allylamines in which SF86-327 is developed for both oral and topical use.