Background: Isavuconazole is a broad-spectrum triazole for the treatment of invasive fungal disease (IFD).
Objective: To investigate the clinical experience with isavuconazole in Chinese individuals.
Patients/methods: Participants were Chinese healthy volunteers from a Phase I pharmacokinetics (PK) and safety study of single/multiple doses of isavuconazole (n = 36) and Chinese patients from the global Phase III SECURE study that assessed safety and efficacy of isavuconazole vs voriconazole for IFD treatment (n = 26).
Results: No clinically relevant differences in PK were found between Chinese and Western participants, although exposure was increased in Chinese volunteers. Treatment-emergent adverse events (TEAEs) were reported in 75.0% of healthy volunteers, many of which were infusion-related. No serious AEs were reported. In SECURE, findings in Chinese patients (n = 26) were similar to the global population. For patients who received ≥1 dose of study drug, allcause mortality from first dose to Day 42 was 10.0% (1/10) with isavuconazole and 25.0% (4/16) with voriconazole (treatment difference [95% confidence interval, CI]: -15.0% [-43.2%, 13.2%]). Overall response at the end of treatment for patients with proven/probable IFD was 25.0% and 16.7% with isavuconazole and voriconazole, respectively (treatment difference [95% CI] -8.3% [-60.2%, 43.5%]). Isavuconazole was associated with lower incidence of hepatobiliary, eye, skin, subcutaneous tissue and psychiatric disorders compared with voriconazole and lower incidence of treatment-related TEAEs, serious TEAES or death overall.
Conclusions: Although further research is required, this study demonstrated a favourable risk-benefit profile of isavuconazole in Chinese patients.
Keywords: antifungal activity; antifungal agents; aspergillosis.
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