Issues in the Development of Drugs for Treating Deep-Seated Mycosis

This review is a collection of abstracts of seven papers presented at the panel discussion "Issues in the Development of Drugs for Treating Deep-Seated Mycosis - From Drug Discovery to Clinical Studies" held at the 45th Annual Meeting of the Japanese Society of Medical Mycology. The first three presentations concerned the discovery of new drugs. The first discussed the screening, analysis of chemical structure and elucidation of the mechanism of action of new antifungal agents focusing on aureobasidin A. The second was on the search for and development of novel agents with selective targets of action, specifically FK463 (micafungin) which inhibits (1→3)-β-glucan synthase. The third described the development of novel derivatives based on the structure-activity correlation of triazole agents, with CS-758 as an example. The remaining four presentations discussed the status and issues of clinical studies targeting hematological disorders and respiratory diseases, as well as various problems from the company point of view on new drug development and those from the government side concerning the approval of new drugs. This type of meeting which provides an opportunity for discussion of various multi-faceted issues from the discovery of a new drug to its preclinical and clinical studies can contribute greatly to progress in the future development of new antifungal agents.