Past, present, and future of antifungal drug development

Abstract

Fungi are eukaryotic, single cell or multicellular organisms which cause a wide range of human diseases ranging from superficial skin to invasive life-threatening infections. Over the last couple of decades the incidence of life-threatening fungal infections has increased seriously as the patients of AIDS, cancer, organ transplant and immune-compromised population have increased. Though a significant progress has been made in the discovery of antifungal agents in the form of polyenes, azoles and allylamines yet the antifungal therapy poses severe challenge because of the side effects, narrow spectrum of activity and recently development resistance among patients against the present antifungals. This chapter deals with the current antifungal agents, their spectrum of activity, mode of action, limitations, current challenges in antifungal therapy, and new avenues for future developments.