What is this summary about?: Invasive aspergillosis (also known as IA) is a type of fungal infection, caused by a species of fungus called Aspergillus, that can be life threatening. Isavuconazole and voriconazole belong to a group of antifungal drugs called triazoles that are recommended for treating IA. In the USA and in Europe, isavuconazole is approved for treating patients with IA. In China, isavuconazole was recently being reviewed for approval for treating patients with IA. This study looked at whether isavuconazole works in the same way in healthy Chinese people as it does in healthy Western people. It also looked to see how well isavuconazole works and how many side effects it has compared with voriconazole in Chinese patients with IA.
What were the results?: The results of this study showed that healthy Chinese people's bodies processed isavuconazole the same way as healthy Western people's bodies. The amount of drug in people's bodies did not change how well the drug worked or how many side effects there were. Isavuconazole worked as well as and had a similar number of side effects as voriconazole in treating Chinese patients with IA.
What do the results of the study mean?: These findings show that isavuconazole may be a suitable treatment for Chinese patients with IA using the same dose that is used in Western patients.
Keywords: aspergillosis; isavuconazole; lay summary; triazole; voriconazole.