In Vitro and In Vivo Evaluation of the Antifungal Activity of APX001A/APX001 against Candida auris

Abstract

Candida auris is an emerging multidrug-resistant yeast that has been responsible for invasive infections associated with high morbidity and mortality. C. auris strains often demonstrate high fluconazole and amphotericin B minimum inhibitory concentration values, and some strains are resistant to all 3 major antifungal classes. Here we evaluated the susceptibility of 16 C. auris clinical strains, isolated from a wide geographical area, to 10 antifungal agents including APX001A, a novel agent that inhibits the fungal protein Gwt1 (GPI-anchored wall transfer protein 1). APX001A demonstrated significantly lower MIC₅₀ and MIC₉₀ values (0.004 μg/mL and 0.031 μg/mL, respectively) than all other agents tested.