ANACOR TRIAL DATA SHOWS SAFETY OF ANTIFUNGAL TREATMENT

Anacor Pharmaceuticals announced that a Phase I trial of its compound AN2690 showed that patients receiving the topical treatment had no measurable level of the drug in their bloodstream. AN2690 is the first in a new class of antifungal agents that is being developed for onychomycosis, a fungal infection of the nail and nail bed.

The 15 patients in the absorption study received daily treatments for 28 days with a 7.5 percent solution of AN2690. The drug could not be found at quantifiable levels (with a lower limit of quantification of 25 nanograms/mL) in the blood at any time when blood samples were taken. Levels of AN2690 in the nail plate remained at therapeutic levels 14 days after the end of treatment. Samples will continue to be collected to evaluate the drug concentrations in the nail at longer durations.

In addition, cultures of all nails were taken at the end of the 28 days of treatment, and all cultures were negative for the fungus, an early indication of potential clinical efficacy.