Fosmanogepix is an experimental

antifungal An antifungal medication, also known as an antimycotic medication, is a pharmaceutical fungicide or fungistatic used to treat and prevent mycosis such as athlete's foot, ringworm, candidiasis (thrush), serious systemic infections such as cry ...

drug being developed by

Pfizer Pfizer Inc. ( ) is an American multinational pharmaceutical and biotechnology corporation headquartered on 42nd Street in Manhattan, New York City. The company was established in 1849 in New York by two German entrepreneurs, Charles Pfize ...

. It is being investigated for its potential to treat various fungal infections including

aspergillosis Aspergillosis is a fungal infection of usually the lungs, caused by the genus '' Aspergillus'', a common mould that is breathed in frequently from the air around, but does not usually affect most people. It generally occurs in people with lung di ...

, candidaemia, and

coccidioidomycosis Coccidioidomycosis (, ), commonly known as cocci, Valley fever, as well as California fever, desert rheumatism, or San Joaquin Valley fever, is a mammalian fungal disease caused by '' Coccidioides immitis'' or '' Coccidioides posadasii''. Cocci ...

. Fosmanogepix is a prodrug and is converted into the active drug form,

manogepix Manogepix (E1210) is an pyridine- isoxazole-based broad-spectrum antifungal. Manogepix targets an enzyme involved in the post-translational modification of fungal proteins. Manogepix is the active metabolite of the prodrug fosmanogepix Fosm ...

, after

administration Administration may refer to: Management of organizations * Management, the act of directing people towards accomplishing a goal ** Administrative Assistant, traditionally known as a Secretary, or also known as an administrative officer, administ ...

. Manogepix targets the

inositol acyltransferase Inositol, or more precisely ''myo''-inositol, is a carbocyclic sugar that is abundant in the brain and other mammalian tissues; it mediates cell signal transduction in response to a variety of hormones, neurotransmitters, and growth factors and ...

Gwt1 (Glycosylphosphatidylinositol-anchored Wall protein Transfer 1), an enzyme in the

glycosylphosphatidylinositol Glycosylphosphatidylinositol (), or glycophosphatidylinositol, or GPI in short, is a phosphoglyceride that can be attached to the C-terminus of a protein during posttranslational modification. The resulting GPI-anchored proteins play key roles ...

(GPI) anchor biosynthesis pathway. Inhibiting this enzyme prevents the fungi from producing certain proteins essential to its life cycle. This

mechanism of action In pharmacology, the term mechanism of action (MOA) refers to the specific biochemical interaction through which a drug substance produces its pharmacological effect. A mechanism of action usually includes mention of the specific molecular tar ...

is novel; therefore, if approved, fosmanogepix would become a

first-in-class medication A first-in-class medication is a pharmaceutical that uses a "new and unique mechanism of action" to treat a particular medical condition. While the Food and Drug Administration's Center for Drug Evaluation and Research tracks first-in-class medica ...

References

Aminopyridines Isoxazoles Antifungals Prodrugs Organophosphates Zwitterions Experimental drugs {{antiinfective-drug-stub