Four new drugs may help fight the growing threat of fatal fungi

Four new drugs may help fight the growing threat of fatal fungi

4 years ago
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http://www.sciencemag.org/news/2019/10/four-new-drugs-may-help-fight-growing-threat-fatal-fungi

Olorofim, now in phase II trials, has shown promise against Lomentospora prolificans (above), a fungus that mostly infects patients with weakened immune systems.

NICE, FRANCE—Martin Hoenigl, a specialist in fungal infections at the University of California, San Diego, sees half a dozen patients a year infected with a rare mold called Lomentospora prolificans that is resistant to all available antifungals. Doctors use combinations of two or three drugs in high doses to try to stop the infection, but usually to no avail. “Most of these patients die,” Hoenigl says.