Nail fungus treatment news

It’s been a good month for nail fungus treatment news with another company releasing details of successful clinical trials on a new anti-fungal treatment for onychomycosis. The company NovaBiotics, based in the UK (not be confused with the company in our previous post this month based in the USA) is a biotechnology company currently trialling a new product called Novexatin®.

Novexatin® is a topical, brush on treatment that has just finished Phase IIa clinical trials where 48 patients used the product daily for 28 days. The results confirmed earlier Phase I results showing that the product appears to have no adverse affects on patients from topical application. Earlier nail model trials indicated positive performance in ability to combat nail fungus infection.

The company expects to announce the full data of the completed trials later this year and is currently exploring partnership arrangements for the development and distribution of the treatment. We look forward to seeing this one come to market…

NovaBay Pharmaceuticals recently announced that they have a breakthrough treatment for onychomycosis, more commonly known as nail fungus, with their new Aganocide® compounds. In pre-clinical trals the Aganocide® compounds have demonstrated “potent antifungal activity in an established pre-clinical infected nail model of onychomycosis.”

NovaBay presented the findings at the 47th Annual Meeting of the Infectious Diseases Society of America (IDSA) in Philadelphia on the 1st of this month (you can find the abstract here). A key issue in the use of topical medications for toenail fungus treatment and fingernail fungus is the ability of the antifungal agent to be absorbed into the nail well enough to be able to fight the fungus. The success of Aganocide® seems to be it’s ability to squarely address this problem - not only to fight nail fungus infections but to penetrate and absorb sufficiently through the nail to allow it to effectively combat the fungus.

Dr. Behzad Khosrovi, senior vice president of product development at NovaBay, said “This model tests both the penetration of the nail as well as the effectiveness of the compounds against the targeted fungus. What is remarkable is that, after treatment, the Aganocide formulations were able to eradicate the fungi grown on the other side of the nail, hence indicating not only good penetration but a good antifungal activity against T. rubrum, the fungus responsible for onychomycosis commonly known as nail infection.”

You can listen to a webcast on the findings on the NovaBay site here. You’ll need to register to listen and the interesting information comes between minutes 5 and 11 although the whole webcast lasts around 40 minutes.

Aganocide® looks very promising as a new entrant into the area of nail fungus treatment but it will be a little while yet before we see it in the market place. Until then, the research seems also to support the use of combination treatments to increase the effectiveness of topical nail fungus products.

Have you ever wondered why you’re the only one you know suffering from nail fungus when all your friends seem to have healthy, happy nails they can show off in public? Have you ever wondered why nail fungus sometimes seems to run in families - your Dad had it and so do you?

Well, scientists reporting in the New England Journal of Medicine last month may have discovered at least some of the answers to your questions.

Recent research shows a genetic link that may determine a persons susceptibility to nail fungus. Apparently two proteins, called Dectin-1 and CARD9, interact with each other in order to support our immunity from nail fungus infections.

When these proteins are mutated or missing our systems find it harder to fend off and fight nail fungus infections.

Dr Bart Ferwerda, involved in the research on the protein called Dectin-1, said “These findings are a first step in understanding the genetic susceptibility to common and disabling fungal diseases such as onychomycosis..”

Dr. Erik-Oliver Glocker, who co-authored the paper on the protein known as CARD9, stated that the discovery “enables further insights in the interaction between fungi and the human immune system and may pave the way for future therapeutic options…”

It will be interesting to see how this research develops and what impact it may have on the future of nail fungus treatment science and procedure.

Research into nail fungus infections needs further focus. It’s a condition that rarely goes away on its own. It is relentlessly progressive and can cause both physical and emotionally negative symptoms. If left unchecked the disease can spread to affect all nails. In addition, the public health considerations (in particular the spread of the disease in public environments such as communal showers, changing rooms and gym facilities) should not be ignored.

Nail fungus is not usually associated with something positive. Mostly sufferers are keeping their toes and fingers hidden and trying in secret to rid themselves of the unsightly symptoms. However on 7th November in Dallas, for those of you with toe nail fungus on your big toe, it’s time to bring those feet out of hiding and make some money out of that fungus problem! And all for a worthy cause - a better understanding of the problem for local physicians.

A company called DermResearch is looking for ‘fungus models’ - more specifically, the company is looking for people who have toenail fungus on their big toe to be models for a training session for physicians. The training session will take place at 10am on Saturday, November 7, 2009 in Dallas, Texas.

DermResearch states that at the training session physicians will ‘examine your toenails and possibly obtain a sample of the nail to examine under a microscope’. Models will be paid $500 each and one night at the resort outside Dallas where the training session will be held.

Normally having a toe nail fungus is a source of embarrassment. Sufferers mostly try and hide their affected nails away in shoes and socks. Here’s a chance to turn that on its head and assist new physicians come to understand more about this progressive and unsightly disease.

So, if you’re in the Dallas area, have fungus on your big toe and fancy a night out on the town with $500 to play with then call 512-349-0500 for further information or fill out the form on their site.

More and more nail fungus treatment options are becoming available. These range from topical treatments to home remedies for toe nail fungus. Prescription based medicines are also available. But most sufferers begin with topical treatments (i.e those that are applied externally to the nail and surrounding skin).