Leishmania Archives - Quanta BioDesign

Amphotericin B+dPEG®: Water-Soluble, Less Toxic, Potent

Drug Development Literature Reviews

About Amphotericin B

Structure of Amphotericin B. Used with permission from J. Med. Chem. (2016), 59, 1197-1206, copyright 2016, American Chemical Society. — **Figure 1:** Structure of Amphotericin B. Image used by permission from J. Med. Chem. (2016), 59, 1197-1206, copyright 2016, American Chemical Society.

Amphotericin B (Figure 1) is the “gold standard” treatment for systemic fungal infections and diseases caused by the parasite Leishmania. Sometimes it is the only effective treatment because drug resistance renders other treatments useless. Systemic fungal infections are an increasingly serious, widespread problem in medicine. Patients with weakened or suppressed immune systems (caused by HIV/AIDS, diabetes, organ transplants, some cancer treatments) are especially at risk. An estimated 1.5-2 million people die each year from systemic fungal infections (1). Despite its “gold standard” label, Amphotericin B has several well-known difficulties.