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JERSEY CITY, N.J., April 09, 2024 (GLOBE NEWSWIRE) -- SCYNEXIS, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCYX), a biotechnology company pioneering innovative medicines to overcome and prevent difficult-to-treat and drug-resistant infections, today announced the presentation of preclinical efficacy data on its second-generation fungerp candidate SCY-247 at the 34th European Congress of Clinical Microbiology and Infectious Diseases (ECCMID) in Barcelona, Spain from April 27-30, 2024.
SCY-247 is being developed to address systemic fungal diseases, with a key focus on invasive fungal infections where resistance to current limited treatment options is a significant concern. These presentations at ECCMID 2024 continue to build upon SCY-247’s positive preclinical data illustrating its unique attributes in the fight against difficult-to-treat fungal infections.
Candida auris is an emerging fungal pathogen associated with nosocomial infections and considered a serious global health threat. It is often resistant to commonly used antifungal drugs, with about 90% of U.S. C. auris samples resistant to fluconazole and some C. auris strains resistant to all three main classes of antifungals (azoles, echinocandins and polyenes). Candida glabrata is the most common non-albicans species causing systemic fungal infections. It also has high levels of resistance to fluconazole, and echinocandin resistance appears to be increasing. Patients with Candida infections that are resistant to both fluconazole and echinocandin drugs have very few treatment options. Azole-resistant Aspergillus infections are also difficult to treat, and affected patients are up to 33% more likely to die than patients with infections that can be treated with azoles.
| Title: | The novel second-generation IV/oral triterpenoid SCY-247 is efficacious in an experimental murine model of invasive candidiasis caused by Candida glabrata |
| Session: | New compounds against biofilm-forming pathogens |
| Session Date/Time: | Sunday, April 28, 2024 at 1:30 pm CET / 7:30 am ET |
| Presenting author: | Nathan Wiederhold, Ph.D. (Professor, Director – Fungus Testing Laboratory, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio) |
| SCY-247 demonstrated in vivo efficacy against C. glabrata invasive candidiasis. Significant reductions in fungal burden were observed in the kidneys of mice treated with SCY-247 in a dose dependent fashion. The work here utilized the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID’s) suite of preclinical services for in vivo testing (Contract Nos. HHSN272201700039/ 75N93019D00022). |
Poster Presentations:
| Title: | SCY-247, a novel second-generation IV/oral triterpenoid antifungal, demonstrates in vitro activity against fungal pathogens, including azole-resistant strains of Candida and Aspergillus |
| Poster Number: | P2920 |
| Session: | 6c. Antifungal susceptibility testing & resistance |
| Session Date/Time: | Monday, April 29, 2024 at 12:00 pm CET |
| Presenting author: | Nathan Wiederhold, Ph.D. (Professor, Director – Fungus Testing Laboratory, University of Texas Health Science Center, San Antonio) |
| SCY-247 demonstrates in vitro activity against a broad range of pathogenic fungi, including Candida and Aspergillus species as well as dimorphic fungi causing Coccidioidomycosis, Histoplasmosis and Blastomycosis. The work here utilized the National Institute of Allergy and Infectious Diseases’ (NIAID’s) suite of preclinical services for in vivo testing (Contract Nos. HHSN272201700039/ 75N93019D00022). |
| Title: | Effect of SCY-247, a second-generation triterpenoid antifungal on growth kinetics and ultrastructure of Candida auris |
| Poster Number: | P2935 |
| Session: | 6c. Antifungal susceptibility testing & resistance |
| Session Date/Time: | Monday, April 29, 2024 at 12:00 pm CET |
| Presenting author: | Mahmoud Ghannoum, Ph.D. (Professor, Case Western Reserve; Director, Center for Medical Mycology, University Hospitals) |
| The potent antifungal effect of SCY-247 on cell morphology of susceptible and multidrug-resistant Candida auris is illustrated utilizing Scanning Electron Microscopy imaging. |
For more information, see the ECCMID website here.
SCY-247 is a second-generation antifungal compound, from a novel class of structurally-distinct glucan synthase inhibitors, triterpenoids (fungerps), being developed to address systemic fungal diseases. The triterpenoid class of antifungals represents the first new class of antifungal compounds since 2001. These agents combine the well-established activity of glucan synthase inhibitors with the potential flexibility of having oral and intravenous (IV) formulations. SCY-247 is in pre-IND development stage and has demonstrated broad-spectrum antifungal activity, in vitro and in vivo. SCYNEXIS anticipates that the U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) may grant SCY-247 Qualified Infectious Disease Product (QIDP) and Fast Track designations for the IV and oral formulations of SCY-247.
SCYNEXIS, Inc. (NASDAQ: SCYX) is a biotechnology company pioneering innovative medicines to help millions of patients worldwide overcome and prevent difficult-to-treat infections that are becoming increasingly drug-resistant. SCYNEXIS is developing the company’s proprietary antifungal platform “fungerps”. Ibrexafungerp, the first representative of this novel class, has been licensed to GSK. The U.S. Food and Drug Administration (FDA) approved BREXAFEMME® (ibrexafungerp tablets) in June 2021, for its first indication in vulvovaginal candidiasis (VVC), followed by a second indication in November 2022, for reduction in the incidence of recurrent VVC. Late-stage clinical investigation of ibrexafungerp for the treatment of life-threatening invasive fungal infections in hospitalized patients is ongoing. Additional antifungal assets from this novel class are currently in pre-clinical and discovery phase, including the compound SCY-247. For more information, visit www.scynexis.com.