Original Articles: 2016 Vol: 8 Issue: 4
Recent trends and advances in fungal drug delivery
Abstract
Topical therapy is an attractive choice for the treatment of the cutaneous infections due to its advantages such as targeting of drugs to the site of infection and reduction of the risk of systemic side effects. Optimal selection and dosing of antifungal agents are important, as these infections are often refractory to available therapy. Agents administered for invasive infections are amphotericin B, flucytosine, and azole antifungals. Several drugs are under investigation, such as posiconazole, voriconazole, and the echinocandins, and preliminary pharmacodynamic data likely will help shape dosing regimens. The efficiency of treatment depends on the penetration of drugs through the target layers of the skin at the effective concentrations. However, stratum corneum, the outermost layer of the skin, is an effective barrier for penetration of drugs into deeper layers of the skin. The physico-chemical characteristics of drug molecules and the types of the formulations are effective factors in topical drug delivery. The review article focuses on the new alternative formulation approaches to improve skin penetration of antifungal drugs.