molecules of the month

MK-5204 is a broad spectrum Candida antifungal agent derived from the natural product, enfumafungin. I was impressed that the molecule not only demonstrates oral efficacy but also has good oral PK in higher species (dog, cyno), given that the molecule is a large zwitterion with several very polar groups, including a primary amide, primary amine, carboxylic acid, and triazole. Development of this molecule was discontinued in favor of a further optimized analog, ibrexafungerp (MK-3118, SCY-078), currently in phase III clinical trials.