NCCN advocates Noxafil for IFI in cancer patients

US drugmaker Schering-Plough says that the National Comprehensive Cancer Network (NCCN) has issued a category 1 recommendation, advocating use of Noxafil (posaconazole) in the prevention of invasive fungal infections in high-risk cancer patients. The announcement was made during the Network's 12th annual conference on Clinical Practice Guidelines and Quality Cancer Care, held in Florida.

The recommendation, which is part of the NCCN's list of guidelines, follows European approval of the drug as a prophylactic treatment for IFI in patients with myelodysplastic syndromes, acute myelogenous leukemia or graft-versus-host disease following stem cell transplantation (Marketletters passim). Currently, Noxafil is cleared by the Food and Drug Administration for the prevention of invasive aspergillus and candida infection in high risk patients.