FURI Study Reports on Ibrexafungerp for Treatment of Refractory Fungal Diseases

One of the ongoing concerns for clinicians is resistant infections and Candida certainly has become an emerging threat to be included in this group.

Ibrexafungerp is an intravenous and orally bioavailable semisynthetic derivative of enfumafungin with potential antifungal activity. It is the first representative of a novel class of structurally-distinct glucan synthase inhibitors, triterpenoids.This agent combines the well-established activity of glucan synthase inhibitors with the potential flexibility of having oral and intravenous (IV) formulations

Ibrexafungerp has been studied in the Fungal Diseases That Are Refractory to or Intolerant of Standard Antifungal Treatment (FURI) trial, which is in a phase 3 open-label, single-arm study examining treatment for fungal diseases who are intolerant of or refractory to standard antifungal therapies.

This study included 41 patient participants from 22 centers in 6 countries. Patient participants had a variety of infections including: intra-abdominal abscesses, oropharyngeal candidiasis, esophageal candidiasis, candidemia, and others.

An independent Data Review Committee (DRC) provided an assessment of treatment and they found: “23 patients (56%) as achieving complete or partial response, 11 patients (27%) maintaining stable disease, 6 patients (15%) with progression of disease and one case was considered as indeterminate.”

The investigators concluded that the agent provided a therapeutic response in the majority of patients who had difficult to treat Candida infections.

“Ibrexafungerp was well-tolerated with the most common treatment-related adverse events being of gastrointestinal origin,” investigators reported. “No deaths due to progression of fungal disease were reported.”

The study, “Efficacy and Safety of Oral Ibrexafungerp in 41 Patients with Refractory Fungal Diseases, Interim Analysis of a Phase 3 Open-label Study (FURI),” was presented virtually at ID Week 2020.