ANTIFUNGAL ACTIVITY OF LY295337 IN-VITRO AGAINST CLINICAL ISOLATES OF CANDIDA SPP

LY295337 is a new antifungal agent derived from the echinocandins; it shows in vitro and in vivo activity against a great variety of pathogenic fungi. In this study, we evaluated the in vitro activity of LY295337 against 201 strains of Candida spp. using two culture media: Sabouraud dextrose broth (SDB) and RPMI 1640; fluconazole was used as reference antifungal agent. The minimum inhibitory concentration (MIC) was determined by the broth microdilution method for LY295337 in SDB and RPMI 1640, and for fluconazole by an agar dilution method. The fungicidal activity of LY295337 was also determined. The MIC-50 as well as MIC-90 values obtained for LY295337 in SDB (range 0.025-0.6 mg/l) were lower than those obtained for RPMI 1640 (0.035-1.25 mg/l). All the strains resistant to fluconazole were sensitive to LY295337 (MIG < 0.6 mg/l). These results show that LY295337 is an excellent antifungal agent with a fungicidal activity in vitro against various species of Candida.