Intravenous posaconazole: key features of clinical pharmacology and practical applications

Abstract

Invasive fungal infections in various categories of patients remain one of the most urgent problems of modern medicine. This is complicated by the imperfection of diagnostic methods, as well as a small range of antimycotics for systemic use. The market launch in 2005 of posaconazole, a second-generation systemic antimycotic from the group of triazoles with a wide spectrum of activity in the form of an oral suspension, was an event in medical mycology. However, pharmacokinetic features of suspension have caused certain problems with its use. The suspension was replaced by a tablet form, largely devoid of these shortcomings, and then a solution for intravenous administration, which was registered in Russia at the end of 2021 (significantly later than in other countries of the world). Registration of an intravenous form of the drug with the possibility of using both for a stepdown approach and in patients who, for different reasons, cannot take posaconazole orally, had a positive impact on the problem of choosing antimycotics for the prophylaxis and treatment of invasive fungal infections. In this article, we will consider the features of the clinical pharmacology of the intravenous form and its place in the prophylaxis and treatment of invasive mycoses.

Keywords

• azoles
• antifungal
• invasive fungal infection
• pharmacokinetics
• posaconazole