Onychomycosis is common worldwide, about 10% of all dermatomycosis being fungal infections of the nails.1 Up until now no satisfactory topical treatment has been available. Therefore, the development of any new antifungal gives rise to high expectations with regard to its effectiveness in onychomycosis. Amorolfine is a phenylpropyl morpholine derivative which has been found to be more effective than imidazole derivatives and polyene antibiotics both in vitro and in experimental infections against dermatophytes and yeasts.2,3 Amorolfine possesses two properties which give rise to hopes that it may be used to treat onychomycosis. First, it is effective at low concentrations,2 and secondly, studies of in‐vitro penetration on human nails show the presence of amorolfine in sufficient concentrations in the nail plate and the nail bed to give fungistatic and fungicidal levels.4 Furthermore, the persistence of amorolfine in the subungual keratin for 7 days5 would allow physicians to reduce the frequency of application. Two different lacquer formulations, one methylene chloride‐based and the other ethanol based, were developed as vehicles for amorolfine for treating onychomycosis with one or two applications per week. This study was carried out in order to test the bioequivalence of the two different lacquer formulations and to see whether the antifungal activity of amorolfine in the subungual area would last longer than 7 days, as shown in a previous study.5 The measurement of the antifungal activity in the subungual area will be taken as one of the criteria for penetration of amorolfine through the human nail. Copyright © 1992, Wiley Blackwell. All rights reserved
