BOSTON—Two clinical studies with a total of 1,202 patients have found posaconazole (Noxafil) significantly more effective than two other antifungal agents in preventing fatal invasive fungal infections in acute myelogenous leukemia (AML) or myelodysplastic syndrome (MDS) patients who develop neutropenia as a result of chemotherapy, as well as in patients who develop graft-vs-host disease (GVHD) while receiving immunosuppressive therapy.
Oliver A. Cornely, MD, and his colleagues compared posaconazole to fluconazole(Drug information on fluconazole) (Diflucan) or itraconazole(Drug information on itraconazole) (Sporanox) in patients with AML and MDS. Andrew J. Ullmann, MD, and his fellow researchers compared posaconazole to fluconazole in GVHD patients. Both studies were reported in the New England Journal of Medicine (356:335-347; 358-359, 2007).
"Prophylaxis is a commonly used therapeutic strategy because the diagnosis of fungal infection is often delayed or difficult to establish with certainty, and a delay in antifungal treatment increases mortality," said Dr. Cornely, assistant professor of internal medicine, University of Cologne, Germany. "With posaconazole, we now can help prevent infections caused by the two most common pathogens, Aspergillus and Candida, before they occur."
Dr. Cornely and his colleagues enrolled 602 AML or MDS patients with prolonged neutropenia in a randomized, multicenter trial. They assigned 304 patients to posaconazole 200 mg thrice daily, 240 to fluconazole 400 mg once daily, and 58 to itraconazole 200 mg twice daily, all delivered in oral suspension. The researchers administered the prophylactic drugs with each chemotherapy cycle until patients recovered from neutropenia and achieved complete remission.
In the posaconazole arm, proven or probable invasive fungal infections occurred in 7 patients (2%), compared with 25 (8%) in the fluconazole or itraconazole group, an absolute reduction of 6% (P ≤ .001). Posaconazole demonstrated a significant advantage in reducing invasive aspergillosis infections, which occurred in 2 (1%) patients who received the drug, compared with 20 (7%) in the control arm (P ≤ .001).
Survival also proved significantly higher in the posaconazole group. During the study period, there were 49 deaths (16%) in the posaconazole group and 67 (22%) in the fluconazole or itraconazole arm (P = .048): 21 of the 116 total deaths were related to fungal infections, 5 (2%) in the posaconazole group and 16 (5%) in the control arm (P = .01).
Serious adverse events were significantly higher with posaconazole prophylaxis, occurring in 19 (6%) of the posaconazole-treated patients vs 6 patients (2%) who received either fluconazole or itraconazole, Dr. Cornely said. Gastrointestinal disturbances proved the most common treatment-related problems in both study arms.
