Miscellaneous antifungals

What are Miscellaneous antifungals?

Antifungal agents are also called antimycotic agents. They kill or inactivate fungi and are used to treat fungal infections (including yeast infections).

Most of them work by disrupting the formation of the fungal cell wall, which eventually kills the fungus. Some common antifungal medications include azoles (such as fluconazole and itraconazole), polyenes (such as amphotericin B and nystatin), and echinocandins (such as caspofungin and anidulafungin).

The four main classes of antifungal drugs are the polyenes, azoles, allylamines and echinocandins.

Systemic antifungals are either fungicidal (kill the fungus) or fungistatic (inhibit fungal growth). Drugs for systemic antifungal treatment include: Polyene macrolides (e.g., amphotericin B and its lipid formulations) Various azole derivatives (fluconazole, isavuconazole, and itraconazole)

Amphotericin B has been the mainstay of antifungal therapy for invasive and serious mycoses, but other antifungals (eg, fluconazole, voriconazole, posaconazole, the echinocandins) are now considered first-line drugs for many of these infections.

Topical drugs, which are applied to the affected area and treat superficial infections and systemic drugs that are prescribed when the infection is more widespread and has not been enough with the topical therapy.

The three major groups of antifungal agents in clinical use, azoles, polyenes, and allylamine/thiocarbamates, all owe their antifungal activities to inhibition of synthesis of or direct interaction with ergosterol. Ergosterol is the predominant component of the fungal cell membrane