A Multicenter, Open-Label Study of Posaconazole Oral Suspension in the Treatment of Invasive Fungal Infections in Patients Refractory to or Intolerant of First-Line Therapy

Abstract

Invasive fungal infections pose a severe health threat to patients. Despite recent advances in drug development, treatment of recurrent fungal infections remains difficult. Posaconazole is a broad-spectrum triazole antifungal drug available for oral administration. Although initial studies have described its use in treating various fungal infections, its efficacy and safety in patients with invasive fungal infections remains to be further confirmed. In this study, we performed a multicenter, open-label clinical trial of posaconazole oral suspension in the treatment of 63 patients with invasive fungal infections who were refractory to or intolerant of first-line therapy. Our result showed that 64.4% of patients had a clinical response after posaconazole treatment, with 52.9% showing eradication of the fungal infection. The treatment caused some adverse effects of mild or moderate severity that were of short duration. The results of this trial indicate that posaconazole can be used in invasive fungal infections as an alternative or salvage therapy.