FDA OKs new drug to fight foot fungus
By Steve Sakson
, Associated Press writer
NEW YORK -- You've conquered gingivitis. You've overcome the
heartbreak of psoriasis, and you haven't had a pimple since
the `60s.
Think you've beaten all of life's everyday health hassles?
Take a look at your big toe.
If it's yellowed and cracked, or worse, if it's rotting
away, you may have toenail fungus -- a stubborn and painful
infection that doctors say plagues 12 to 35 million
Americans but is largely unknown even to many who have it.
Until now, the only drugs that cured this close relative of
athlete's foot took 12 to 18 months to work and had a
variety of side effects from headaches and nausea to a risk
of hepatitis.
In October, the Food and Drug Administration approved a
prescription treatment that can work in three or four
months. It's called itraconazole, which its maker, Johnson &
Johnson, sells under the brand name Sporanox.
Although doctors praise the medicine, it's not cheap. The
typical treatment for what they call onychomycosis (ON-i-coh-
my-CO-sis), can cost $1,000 or more. The treatment includes
two pills a day for as long as it takes for the infection to
disappear. But there's no guarantee the infection won't
return.
Sporanox's side effects, while less severe than its
predecessors, are significant for a small number of people.
In U.S. tests, liver damage occurred in about 3 percent of
patients, Dr. Kechijian said. Digestive disorders and rashes
affected 4 percent and 3 percent, respectively.
Also, the drug is unsafe for users of the hay fever drugs
Seldane and Hismanol, Propulsid for gastric disorders, and
the sedative Halcion.
This medicine fills a niche because it will cure it
quickly," said Dr. Paul Kechijian, a nail specialist at New
York University Medical Center, who cautions: "It's not
necessarily a long-term cure."
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