Abstract
Over the past two decades the incidence of deep mycoses caused by several major groups of fungal pathogens such as Candida spp., aspergilli, Cryptococcus neoformans and zygomycetes has risen steadily. Moreover, opportunistic fungal infections due to Fusarium spp., Trichosporon spp., Pseudallescheria boydii and other emerging pathogens, as well as fluconazole-resistant Candida albicans, all of which are often resistant to existing antifungal drugs, are also encountered more and more frequently. This makes it more difficult for the clinician to achieve successful treatment. Thus there is an urgent need to develop new antifungal agents or formulations with advantages over and/or complimentary to existing drugs. This review focuses on current approaches to antifungal chemotherapy with special reference to the clinical development of new drugs, including (ii) lipid formulations of amphotericin B, (i) second-generation azoles and (iii) antifungal lipopeptides.
