MSD presents interim Cancidas trial results

Merck, Sharp and Dohme (MSD) has announced preliminary trial results of Cancidas (caspofungin acetate) in patients aged from three months to 17 years old with suspected fungal infections.

The firm presented results to the annual meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America last weekend revealing that 74 per cent of patients treated with the compound showing a positive response to the treatment.

A favourable response was adjudged to be substantial clinical, microbiological or endoscopic improvement, or complete improvement in patients with candidemia.

The trial involved 39 patients with proven or probable aspergillosis, invasive candidiasis or proven esophageal candidiasis.

Cancidas – a compound administered by intravenous infusion – inhibits the synthesis of a key component of the fungal cell wall known as beta(1,3)-D-glucan.

Theoklis Zaoutis, assistant professor of paediatrics and epidemiology at the division of infectious diseases at the Children’s Hospital in Philadelphia, said: “These interim results are a preliminary indicator that Cancidas may be a therapeutic intervention for paediatric patients with invasive fungal infections.”

Last month, MSD presented clinical trial results to the American Society for Microbiology’s Interscience Conference on Antimicrobial Agents and Chemotherapy showing that Cancidas has a similar overall response rate, fever resolution rate and safety profile to L-AmB.