Drug Uses Fat To Fight Fatal Fungal Infection

The Food and Drug Administration has approved a new product that uses microscopic fat bubbles to fight a frequently fatal fungal infection.

Aspergillosis is a systemic fungal infection that devastates cancer and bone-marrow transplant patients, who often catch it in hospitals.

The standard treatment is amphotericin B, a powerful drug that can seriously damage the kidneys. Many cancer patients cannot take it because their kidneys already have been weakened by chemotherapy.

The Liposome Co.’s Abelcet puts amphotericin B into a mixture of microscopic fat bubbles. The coating appears to let higher doses of the drug travel straight to the fungal infection without leaking out and damaging the kidneys along the way.