Evaluation of the efficacy of ME1111 in the topical treatment of dermatophytosis in a Guinea pig model

Abstract

The treatment of dermatophytoses, including onychomycosis, has come a long way over the past few decades with the introduction of oral antifungals (e.g., terbinafine and itraconazole). However, with these advancements in oral therapies come several undesirable effects, such as kidney and liver toxicity, along with drug-drug interactions. Consequently, there is a need for new topical agents that are effective against dermatophytosis. ME1111 is a topical antifungal under development. In this study, the in vivo efficacy of ME1111 was compared to that of ciclopirox in the topical treatment of dermatophytosis caused by Trichophyton mentagrophytes using a Guinea pig model. Animals were treated with the topical antifungals starting at 3 days postinfection, with each agent being applied once daily for seven consecutive days. After the treatment period, the clinical and mycological efficacies were evaluated. The data showed that both antifungals demonstrated significant clinical and mycological efficacies; however, ME1111 showed clinical efficacy superior to that of ciclopirox (46.9% and 25.0%, respectively, with a P value of <0.001). The potent efficacy of ME1111 could be attributed to its properties, such as low keratin binding.